Sterling Continues Tangent Build

Tangent Technologies, a portfolio company of The Sterling Group, has acquired Bedford Technology from Hillcrest Capital Partners and its founder Brian Larsen.

Bedford is an extruder of plastic lumber used in structural and semi-structural products in marine infrastructure projects, boardwalks, fencing, and other industrial applications. The company products are made from high-density polyethylene (HDPE) recycled plastic from post-industrial and post-consumer waste.

Bedford was founded in 1992 and is currently led by CEO Jeff Breitzman, who was promoted to the position in March 2017 as part of a long-term succession plan led by Mr. Larsen. Mr. Breitzman joined Bedford in 2010 as the company’s chief operating officer. The company is headquartered 175 miles southwest of Minneapolis in Worthington, Minnesota.

Tangent is a manufacturer of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) lumber used for outdoor furniture, structural applications, and marine decking. In recent years, HDPE lumber has become a substitute for traditional building materials in outdoor furniture and other applications given its durability and aesthetics. Tangent uses post-consumer recycled milk bottles (more than 175 million bottles each year) as a primary raw material along with many other post-industrial recycled waste streams. Customers of Tangent include original equipment manufacturers, municipalities and businesses including restaurants, hotels and country clubs.

Tangent, led by CEO Guy DeFeo, is headquartered in a 200,000 square-foot facility near Chicago in Aurora, Illinois. “We are excited to partner with Bedford and expand the combined plastic lumber product lines and solutions,” said Mr. DeFeo. “With the addition of Bedford, we will build a broader facility footprint across North America as well as build one of the best alternative material innovation organizations for our customers.”

The Sterling Group acquired Tangent through its fourth fund in 2018. Last September, Tangent closed two add-on acquisitions with the buys of Home & Leisure, a Brantford, Ontario-based extruder, fabricator, and assembler of plastic lumber furniture sold to the mass market casual furniture industry; and Vinyl Tech, a Millersburg, Ohio-based provider of furniture and playground fulfillment services to Tangent. Sterling continues to actively seek add-acquisitions of wood-alternative material manufactures.

Houston-based The Sterling Group invests in manufacturing, industrial services and distribution companies that have enterprise values from $100 million to $750 million. The firm emphasizes an operational approach in partnership with management teams to grow and improve the companies it acquires. Since its founding in 1982, The Sterling Group has sponsored the buyout of 56 platform companies and numerous add-on acquisitions with a total transaction value of over $10 billion.