Chi-Town Firm Closes In On Exit 12 Years In The Making

Wind Point Partners appears posed to sell U.S. Security Associates Inc., a Roswell, Ga.-based company that provides security, janitorial, maintenance and other services, according to a regulatory filing.

If the sale is a full exit, it will have been a long time coming: The Chicago-based firm bought the company, then known as Outsource Partners Inc., in late 1999 for $170 million, according to Capital IQ.

Founded in 1993, U.S. Security Associates provides its services at office buildings, universities, residential communities and other entities. The new investor in the company is Valour Holdings LP, according to the regulatory filing. It’s unclear what type of business Valour is.

Jim TenBroek, managing director at Wind Point, declined to comment. Brian Dooling, a spokesman for U.S. Security Associates, also declined to comment, citing an agreement in place.

The deal would follow another recent exit for the firm: On June 2, Wind Point agreed to sell Omniflight Helicopters Inc., a company that provides medical transportation using helicopters, to Air Methods Corp., a publicly traded company that also provides medical emergency services by air, reportedly for $200 million. Wind Point bought the company in 2005 for an undisclosed amount.

Wind Point is currently investing from its seventh fund, a $915 million pool of capital it closed in 2009. The firm is unlikely to hit the fundraising market any time soon: As of March, only about 30 percent of Wind Point Partners VII LP was drawn down, according to a source.

Fund VII deals so far include its most recent acquisition, in February, of Nonni’s Biscotti, a maker of the dry and crunchy Italian cookie, from Chipita America Inc., and its January acquisition of Petmate, a maker of pet carriers, litter boxes and other pet products, from Westar Capital LLC for an undisclosed amount.

Wind Point typically invests between $20 million and $120 million in companies with annual revenue of between $100 million and $500 million and minimum annual EBITDA of $10 million. Sectors of interest include business services, consumer products, health care, industrial products, and media and communications companies based in the United States.