Crown Products & Services, LLC

  • The Lenox Group served as exclusive financial advisor to Crown Products & Services, LLC and its subsidiaries (“Crown” or the “Company”) on its majority recapitalization led by Merit Capital Partners (“Merit”).
  • Headquartered in Carmel, Indiana, Crown specializes in the formulation and application of proprietary specialty chemicals used to facilitate raw material handling in the coal, steel and utility industries. Crown supplies a turn-key solution to clients by providing the necessary expertise, equipment and chemicals.
  • The Company’s customers include coal producers, coke producers, steel manufacturers, utility companies and industrial companies across the United States. The Company also provides products and services to steel companies in Canada and Eastern Europe.
  • Crown retained The Lenox Group seeking liquidity alternatives. Owners wanted to take a dividend, but did not want to materially change day-to-day operations or management structure.
  • The Lenox Group negotiated and structured Crown’s majority recapitalization as well as managed the process, allowing senior management to remain focused on operations of existing divisions.
  • Merit Capital Partners is a Chicago-based private equity firm managing $1.7 billion through institutionally sponsored limited partnerships investing mezzanine and equity capital in middle-market companies principally in manufacturing, distribution and services industries. Merit focuses exclusively on high-quality, established businesses with carefully conceived operating strategies with a goal of working with committed owners and strong managers to help increase a company's enterprise value.
  • Crown’s founding management team received liquidity and retained significant ownership positions as co-investors with Merit. The transaction also positioned the Company to move further into new international markets and develop additional product lines with ample capital available.