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Huron Capital Completes the Sale of Sciens Building Solutions
DETROIT, Mich. (December 15, 2021) — Leading middle-market private equity firm, Huron Capital (“Huron”), announced that it has sold a majority interest in Sciens Building Solutions (“Sciens”), a prominent full-service commercial fire and life safety company, to funds managed by global investment firm Carlyle (NASDAQ: CG). The Company’s senior management team, as well as Huron, will retain minority equity stakes in the business and Huron will maintain a seat on Sciens’ board of directors.
Headquartered in San Francisco, Sciens is focused on the fire detection and security services sector, including the design, installation, and provision of maintenance services for fire detection and protection systems in a variety of commercial, institutional, and government facilities.
Recognizing notable secular tailwinds including increasingly stringent regulatory requirements, the growing importance of “smart” buildings and systems, and demographic shifts tied to urbanization, Huron, under its proprietary ExecFactor® program, partnered with industry executive, Terry Heath to form Sciens in 2016 to pursue a buy-and-build investment strategy in the fire and life safety (“FLS”) space.
Over the past several years, Sciens made significant investments in people, technology, and corporate infrastructure, including the development of a strategic M&A program. Since its formation, Sciens experienced strong organic growth and completed 13 acquisitions becoming a premier, scaled national provider of mission critical FLS services. These efforts resulted in a greater than 35-fold increase in revenue and EBITDA transforming Sciens from a business vision into a diversified, market-leading FLS platform poised to continue its impressive growth trajectory under Carlyle’s ownership.
Terry Heath, Founder and CEO of Sciens said, “We have a clear focus to become the largest independent FLS integrator in North America by building a scalable platform with a world-class management team. As a result of the investments we made, we grew rapidly and successfully integrated numerous acquisitions. We are extremely grateful for Huron’s partnership, and I am pleased that Jim and I will be able to continue our work together as board members under Carlyle’s ownership.”
Sciens has been led by Managing Partner Jim Mahoney at Huron. “We have been extremely proud to support Terry and the senior management team over the last five years. Looking forward, we know that Sciens is poised for continued growth through M&A and would benefit from a larger partner with deep industry experience, and there is no one better to do this than the Carlyle team.”
The sale of Sciens is Huron Capital’s eighth exit this year.
Baird served as financial advisor and Honigman LLP served as legal advisor to Huron and Sciens.
About Huron Capital
Founded in Detroit in 1999, Huron Capital (“Huron”) is an operationally focused private equity firm with a long history of growing middle-market companies through its proprietary ExecFactor® buy-and-build investment model. Huron prefers complex situations where it can help companies reach their full potential by combining its operational approach, substantial capital base, and transaction experience with seasoned operating executives. An early pioneer of the buy-and-build approach, Huron has successfully established six private equity funds aggregating nearly $2.0 billion in committed capital and invested in over 235 companies, and its portfolio companies have employed over 11,000 people throughout North America. The Huron buy-and-build investment model includes equity recapitalizations, family succession transactions, market-entry strategies, corporate carve-outs, and management buyouts of companies having revenues up to $200 million. Huron invests control equity in fundamentally sound companies that can benefit from the firm’s operational approach to creating value. Huron focuses on niche segments within the commercial & industrial services, professional services and consumer services sectors. For more information, please visit: www.huroncapital.com.
About Sciens Building Solutions
Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Sciens Building Solutions is a company focused on the fire detection and security services sector. This includes the design, installation, and provision of maintenance services for fire detection and clean agent fire suppression systems in a variety of commercial, institutional, and government facilities. The Company’s daily mission is simple: save lives and protect property. For more information, please visit: www.sciensbuildingsolutions.com.
Certain information herein may contain forward-looking statements which are provided to assist the reader in understanding the beliefs and opinions with respect to future opportunities as perceived by Huron Capital and others quoted herein. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and undue reliance should not be placed on them. Such forward-looking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual performance in future periods to differ materially from any projections or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The issuer of these statements undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or estimates or opinions should change except as may be required by applicable securities laws.
