L Squared Capital Partners leads investment in GWS Tool Group

L Squared Capital Partners and GWS Tool Group announced that L Squared has partnered with GWS management to recapitalize the GWS. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

GWS represents L Squared’s tenth platform investment over the last five years. GWS is a leading provider of high-performance consumable cutting tools. L Squared’s investment provides a long-term capital base to support GWS' ongoing and rapid evolution.

“We are thrilled to partner with the L Squared team to support the continued development of GWS as a powerful player within the cutting tool universe,” said Rick McIntyre, CEO of GWS. “L Squared’s long-term investment horizon will give us the freedom to keep our heads down and focus on our team’s primary objective of being one of the premier metalworking companies in the world.”

The continued expansion of GWS by way of acquisitions and constant investment in world class technology, people and equipment has created an unmatched value proposition for customers operating in advanced machining environments, especially in the area of custom tooling. GWS remains committed to the expansion of this value proposition.

“We have been extremely impressed by the GWS' track record of growth and commitment to operational excellence – GWS has proven to be a strategic partner with its customers, developing custom solutions for some of the most complex manufacturing environments,” said Randall Hunt, partner of L Squared. “Our family office capital base and long-term investment horizon is well suited to support the GWS' investment in its capabilities and pursuit of accretive acquisitions.”

This transaction provides capital to further the GWS acquisition strategy, helping to accelerate the expansion of the Company’s geographic footprint to support even more localized customer need, and positions GWS as the partner of choice for other cutting tool companies when it is time for them to pursue a sale. Moreover, GWS plans to accelerate investment in its people as well as its state-of-the art facilities. These investments will further reinforce GWS’ industry leading product quality, delivery times and overall customer satisfaction.

L Squared Capital Partners lead the equity investment with participation from the GWS management team, as well as the GWS’ incumbent financial sponsor, Addison Capital Partners. Varagon Capital Partners led the debt financing to support the recapitalization. Vedder Price served as legal counsel to L Squared. Piper Jaffray served as an adviser and Akerman LLP served as legal counsel to GWS. The L Squared deal team was composed of Randall Hunt, Jeff Farrero and Tyler Huez.