Secondary Transactions Ready for Rebound

Audax Group has completed its sale of Thermon, a heat tracing equipment manufacturer, to Code Hennessy & Simmons for $127 million. Thompson Street Capital also invested alongside CHS, which invested from its CHS Private Equity V fund. Audax was legally advised by Kirkland & Ellis and Thermon was legally advised by Jefferies & Company, while W.Y. Campbell served as a financial advisor to Thermon. Audax acquired Thermon in a 2007 LBO.

There have been 78 completed or announced secondary transactions in the Commercial Products sector of the B2B industry since the beginning of 2007, according to the PitchBook Platform. Deal activity declined from 2007 to 2009, with 40 deals in 2007, 27 deals in 2008 and only 6 deals in 2009. While it's highly unlikely that deal activity this year will reach the levels previously seen a few years ago, with 5 deals under its belt so far, 2010 is in a good position to see an increase in deal activity from last year. The most active buyer in the secondary transactions is Code Hennessy & Simmons with 4 deals. Other top buyers include Harbour Group (4 deals), The Carlyle Group (3), Odyssey Investment Partners (2) and American Capital (2).