Fresh Profile: NCK Capital’s soup-to-nuts strategy

NCK Capital has adopted a forward-thinking strategy that looks at companies that would be “really appealing in a few years to a larger, middle-market sponsor,” Co-Founder and Managing Partner Michael Kornman told Active LPs.

Founded in 2013, the Dallas-based independent sponsor focuses on the environmental services, for-profit education, niche manufacturing, specialty distribution and business services sectors in the lower middle market.

“We invest in and acquire companies that are both founder and family-owned—in addition to those that are PE-owned,” said Kornman, who added that NCK Capital prefers investing in companies with high Ebitda to cash conversion because it allows it to “pursue rapid, organic growth.”

NCK targets companies with Ebitda from $2 million to $10 million, according to its website.

Kornman and his brother Grant Kornman, who previously served as CEO and president of HMTB Holdings, according to LinkedIn, founded the firm because they felt that they could add value to lower, middle-market businesses.

NCK Capital’s portfolio includes: Graybill Processing, an industrial recycling manufacturer that specializes in food waste; Ogle School and Tricoci University of Beauty Culture, for-profit education platforms focused on cosmetology and esthetics; Quickfire Restaurants, which focuses on “servicing secondary and tertiary restaurant markets,” according to the website; and City Wide Building Services, a commercial window cleaner and building-facade cleaner, which Kornman calls his favorite deal completed under NCK Capital.

“It’s a business that is based on contracts with building managers,” Kornman said. “It’s a mission-critical service for these building owners.”

NCK Capital invests in companies throughout the Southeast, Southwest and Midwest, particularly Texas, which its website describes as “one of the best environments for business in the United States.”