BlackArch Partners Advises The Halifax Group on Sale of Burke to Bertram Capital

a portfolio company of

has been acquired by

CHARLOTTE, NC (January 4, 2022) – BlackArch Partners LLC (“BlackArch”) is pleased to announce that BCI Burke Holding Corp. (“Burke” or the “Company”), a portfolio company of The Halifax Group (“Halifax”), has been acquired by Bertram Capital (“Bertram”).

Headquartered in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, Burke is a fast-ascending brand in the commercial play market with a broad product offering that challenges everyone to get outside, while also providing critical infrastructure to communities.  The Company has a strong sales channel, with representative firms around the world that promote Burke’s brand and align with its mission.  More than 100 years as an industry leader position Burke well for growth within its core product categories and in new markets.

BlackArch was retained by Burke’s management team and Halifax to serve as the Company’s exclusive financial advisor. The transaction builds upon BlackArch’s significant momentum with market-leading and high-growth platform companies in the middle market and leverages deep sector experience in both Recreational Products and Diversified Industrials.

Mike Phelan, CEO of Burke, stated, “We were proud to work with BlackArch for a second time as we identified a new partner that could continue to support Burke’s unique culture and aggressive growth.  Their hands-on leadership of the transaction and thoughtful advice on important decisions are unparalleled.  Like our team at Burke, they are extremely passionate about what they do, and earned our continued trust in driving an exceptional outcome for our employees, representatives and shareholders.”

Scott Plumridge, Managing Partner at Halifax, added, “BlackArch was a tremendous resource to Halifax and our management team throughout our partnership with Burke.  When it came time for the next chapter in Burke’s growth, BlackArch’s steadfast senior leadership and engagement of their full team were critical in generating an exceptional outcome for all parties.  They set a very high bar for efficiency in transaction execution.”     

About Burke

Burke is a leading provider of commercial play equipment and site amenities to public parks, educational institutions, and commercial developments. The Company specializes in play systems and provides a wide array of other playground necessities, including outdoor musical instruments, surfacing, fitness products, and general site amenities. Burke’s advanced modular play systems can be configured and customized in a myriad of ways with colors, designs, and different levels of challenge. The Company’s products are not only for physical movement; they ignite cognitive, social, emotional, and imaginative skill development in children of all abilities. With locations in the U.S. and U.K., Burke is positioned to deliver on its mission to bring play to communities around the world driven by a desire to help children develop, communities engage and keep people of all ages moving outside together. For more information, visit www.bciburke.com.

About The Halifax Group

Founded in 1999, The Halifax Group is a private equity firm that partners with managers and entrepreneurs to recapitalize and grow lower middle-market businesses with total enterprise values generally between $100 million and $300 million. Halifax specializes in equity recapitalizations, corporate carve-outs and management buyouts and invests across a variety of industries, including outsourced business services, health and wellness and franchising. The firm is headquartered in Washington, D.C, and maintains an office in Raleigh, NC. For more information, visit www.thehalifaxgroup.com.

About Bertram Capital

Bertram Capital is a private equity firm targeting investments in lower middle market companies. Since its inception in 2006, the firm has raised over $2.2 billion of capital commitments. In addition to supplying strategic growth capital, Bertram Capital leverages proprietary processes and services, Bertram High-5^sm and Bertram Labs, to empower its portfolio companies to unlock their full business potential. The Bertram High-5^sm is an operationally-focused value creation strategy, which includes management augmentation, operational initiative implementation, complementary business acquisition, sales and marketing improvements, and leveraging technology and IP. The cornerstone of this strategy is Bertram Labs, its in-house technology team, which drives growth and value through digital marketing, e-commerce, big data and analytics, application development, and internal and external platform optimization. For more information, visit www.bcap.com.

About BlackArch Partners

BlackArch Partners is a leading middle-market investment bank offering a full spectrum of advisory services to financial sponsors, private companies and diversified corporations. BlackArch addresses the needs of companies with specialized services that include M&A advisory, strategic advisory and private capital solutions. Headquartered in Charlotte, NC, BlackArch features a total of 12 industry-focused practices that cover all sectors of interest to middle-market investors. BlackArch professionals have closed more than
350 transactions in 16 countries on 4 continents. For more details, please visit, www.blackarchpartners.com.

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