Burrell Reagents | Case Study

Company Background

Burrell Scientific, LLC manufactures and distributes laboratory equipment and supplies. Reagents, LLC is located in Charlotte, NC and has been blending, packaging, and distributing custom laboratory solutions for over 40 years.
Burrell, located in Pittsburgh for the past 100 years, manufactures and distributes laboratory shakers and chemicals. On a combined basis, Burrell Reagents currently serves a base of over 2,000 customers across the US.
Tecum partnered with the ownership group of Burrell Scientific and its CEO, Walter Rausch, to acquire Reagents in November 2015.

Investment Thesis

Industry: Continued growth in biotechnology, stabilized education spending, and moderately increasing government research and development spending will underpin the modest growth forecast within the laboratory chemical and equipment space.
Opportunity: Invest in a nice local deal in a stable to moderately growing Company with the potential for significant earnings growth through synergies, sales distribution, and a reinvigorated management team.
Strategy: Partner with incumbent management team to provide capital, experience, and guidance to expand the company’s revenues and professionalize the business.

Results

During 2016, investments in facilities, systems, financial controls, IT, sales, marketing and talent were undertaken in order to professionalize the business and provide a foundation for future growth.
From 2017 to 2018, the Company steadily grew sales through a combination of new customers and wallet-share gain with existing customers.
In November 2018, the investment was successfully exited through a sale of the Company to Silver Mill, LLC and PNC Riverarch Capital.