Audax triples its money with TriMark sale

Warburg Pincus is the buyer. Financial terms weren’t announced.

The investment came from Audax’s second buyout fund, which raised $700 million in 2005, the person told sister website peHUB. Fund II is producing a 14 percent IRR and a 1.72x multiple, according to alternative assets data provider Bison.

The firm’s third pool collected $1 billion in 2007, while Audax closed Fund IV at $1.25 billion in 2012. Fund III is generating a 13.6 percent net IRR and a 1.6x investment multiple as of Dec. 31, according to performance data from the California Public Employees’ Retirement System.

Performance data for Fund IV was not immediately available.

South Attleboro, Massachusetts-based TriMark provides equipment, supplies and design services for the food service industry. Audax invested in the company in 2006. TriMark, while it was owned by Audax, completed six add-ons and company revenues grew to more than $1 billion from $260 million, according to a statement.

The sale is the third time TriMark will be owned by a buyout firm. Audax acquired TriMark from Bradford Equities Management, a White Plains, New York, buyout shop, in November 2006.

Warburg, a New York firm, invests in multiple stages of a company’s life cycle. Sectors of focus include financial services, healthcare, energy and consumer. The investment is coming from Warburg’s 11th buyout fund, which closed on $11.2 billion in 2013.

News of the TriMark sale was reported by peHUB earlier in August.

Christopher Burns, John Tibe and Alec Ellison of Jefferies, along with Wells Fargo, advised TriMark.

Luisa Beltran is a senior writer for peHUB.