Coastal Breeze PartnersTM

Building Great Middle Market Businesses

2024

Year Founded

Combined number of years of investment experience

Number of businesses Founders have invested in

Actively Managed Investments

About

Who We Are

Coastal Breeze Partners, headquartered In Boca Raton, Florida, is a lower middle market private equity firm that specializes in control investments across the United States. Coastal Breeze Partners combines deep sector expertise in industrial sub sectors and business service sub sectors with a proven track record of value creation.

We partner and align our interests with talented management teams to help companies and business owners achieve their full potential. We have invested in more than 80 businesses over the past 25 years.

Why We Are Different

Our senior team has extensive principal investment, transactional and operational experience. This provides us with a value-added approach to develop a tailored investment thesis in order to transform businesses. By combining our deep sector expertise with a hands-on approach, we help build, grow and enhance the businesses in which we invest.

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Approach

Goal Oriented in Everything We Do

  • Entrepreneurial Focus: We seek out entrepreneurial businesses to help owners and management teams successfully grow their businesses and unlock long-term shareholder value.
  • Institutionalization: We focus on institutionalizing business processes, administration, and enhancing systems to support growth.
  • Aligned Interests: We invest alongside our partners to ensure our interests are aligned throughout the investment period.
  • Process-Driven Value Creation: Our strategy is built on a rigorous, process-driven framework that spans from pre-closing due diligence through the entire ownership period.
  • Strategic Planning: We work closely with management to develop a tailored strategic plan with clearly defined objectives.
  • Functional Expertise: We supplement management teams with appropriate resources and experts in IT, Supply Chain, HR, Finance, and Lean Process.
  • Strategic Exit: Once our shared objectives are met, we pursue an exit, ensuring the business is positioned for its next phase of success.
  • Sector Focus: We invest in the following sectors that we know well: essential business services, specialty chemicals, building products and niche industrials.

Focus

We Invest in What We Know

CRITERIA

  • Revenues of over $20m
  • EBITDA of over $2m to $15m
  • Identifiable value creation plan
  • Seller type: family/founder-owned or corporate seller
  • Control investments

INDUSTRIES

  • Essential Business Services
  • Specialty Chemicals
  • Building Products
  • Niche Industrials

Team

Matthias Gundlach

Matthias Gundlach

Founding Partner

View Bio

Brian Urbanek

Brian Urbanek

Founding Partner

View Bio

Portfolio

Actively Managed Investments

AVFX

Headquartered in Boston, MA.  A leading provider of event technology services, including audio, visual and lighting production and staging services for corporate events, trade shows, exhibits and meetings, primarily in North America.

Atlantic Southern Paving and Sealcoating

Headquartered in Sunrise, FL. A leading provider of commercial and municipal pavement and related parking lot maintenance services in the United States. Partially Realized

Select Prior Investment Experience

Chemical Distributor

Headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia. A North American chemical distributor focused on solvents, plasticizers, coolants, lubricants, surfactants, diesel exhaust fluid, additives, and other products.

Specialty Chemical Manufacturer

Headquartered in Houston, Texas. A global specialty chemical company, providing a product portfolio of amphoteric surfactants for the personal care, home, hygiene, and industrial markets.

Specialty Materials Manufacturer

Headquartered in Forrest Park, Illinois. A North American leader in the design, production, and conversion of specialty tapes and labels, niche release liners, and coated/uncoated films.

Building Materials Manufacturer

Headquartered in Woodbridge, ON, Canada. A North American manufacturer of rigid and cellular vinyl window and patio door profiles.

Specialty Industrials Manufacturer

Headquartered in Athens, GA. A North American leading manufacturer of pole and pad‑mounted distribution transformers.

Aclara

Headquartered in St. Louis , MO. A leading smart infrastructure solutions provider to water, gas, and electric utilities globally.

Elix Polymers

Headquartered in Tarragona, Spain. A producer of pre-colored ABS specialty thermoplastic resins.

Albéa Group

Headquartered in France. A leading packaging manufacturer for the beauty, personal care and health markets.

Robertshaw

Headquartered in Itasca, IL. A global leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of industrial control products and systems.

Case Studies

Atlantic Southern Paving and Sealcoating

Atlantic Southern Paving and Sealcoating

Atlantic Southern Paving and Sealcoating Leading provider of pavement maintenance services, including paving, pothole patching, crack seal repair, sealcoating, striping and concrete repair. Brian and the team were great partners and worked closely with us to help us…

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*The actively managed investments reflect investments from a founder’s prior firm where he still actively manages the investments. Select prior investment experience highlights selected investments that the founders were involved in while working as team members with investment and other professionals, who were essential to the performance of such investments and who are not involved with Coastal Breeze Partners. As such, investment performance is not attributable only to the founders.

News

Brian is a founding partner of Coastal Breeze Partners and has over 25 years of investing, merger & acquisition and corporate finance experience. Brian has completed over 40 transactions for businesses across multiple industries, including business services, industrial, consumer, retail, automotive & heavy-duty, financial services, packaging, chemicals, and healthcare. Brian’s investment activities included control buyout transactions, as well as non-control recapitalization transactions. Brian also completed ongoing work with portfolio companies, including the strategic planning, operational reviews, management recruiting, financing and restructuring needs, add-on acquisitions and exit transactions. Prior to founding Costal Breeze, Brian was the co-founder and managing partner of Harbor Beach Capital, where he continues to actively manage two platform investments. Prior to founding Harbor Beach Capital, Brian served as Managing Director at Sun Capital Partners, a global private equity firm focused on investing in lower and middle market companies. Prior to Sun Capital, Brian was a Vice President in the Corporate Finance group at Stephens, Inc. Prior to that, Brian served as a Vice President with the investment banking group at Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., and as Manager of Corporate Development with AutoNation, Inc. Brian received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, cum laude, with dual majors in Economics and Finance from Creighton University's Heider College of Business.

Matthias is a founding partner of Coastal Breeze Partners and has 25 years of investing, merger & acquisition and corporate finance experience. Matthias has completed over 30 transactions for businesses across multiple jurisdictions, sectors and types. Prior to founding Coastal Breeze, Matthias served as Managing Director at OpenGate Capital, a global lower-to-middle market private equity firm. As Head of OpenGate’s North American industrials investment team, Matthias focused on transformational value creation opportunities in chemicals, ingredients, building products, industrials and distribution. Prior to OpenGate, Matthias was a Vice President at Sun European Partners, the London based investment arm of Sun Capital Partners, a global private equity firm focused on investing in lower and middle market companies. Prior to Sun Capital, Matthias worked in investment banking at Goldman Sachs in Frankfurt and at Deutsche Bank in London. As part of a dual degree Matthias received a Master of Business Administration from University of Pittsburgh, KATZ Graduate School of Business and a Master of Business Administration from EBS Universität für Wirtschaft und Recht.