Wafra acquires Century Fire

CHEVY CHASE, Md.--Calling it a "compelling investment opportunity," Tom Pagnani, CapitalSource senior director, on Jan. 24 announced that CapitalSource closed a deal where it provided senior financing for the acquisition of Century Fire Protection, a regional fire sprinkler company headquartered in Duluth, Georgia, by Wafra Partners, a private equity group based in New York City. "CapitalSource is attracted to business with established recurring revenue and Century is a great case in point," Pagnani said. "They have a seasoned operation with Scott Tutterow [president and founder of Century Fire]," he added. Terms of the deal were not released. Capital Source provided a senior term loan and revolving senior credit facility. Wafra Partners is the equity sponsor and becomes the majority owner of the company. The Century management team, led by Tutterow, also invested in the equity of the recapitalized entity. Century designs, fabricates installs and maintains and inspects fire sprinkler systems. It has seven offices throughout the Southeast, in Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina and North Carolina. According to Pagnani, its business is 75 percent installation and 25 percent inspection. The deal brings together a "seasoned operation with a great private equity group combined with a focused lending platform," Pagnani said. Fire and life safety companies are expected to generate $12 billion in revenues this year, he said. "Those are economics that spell significant opportunity for us and the other capital partners."