CM Equity Partners LP has sold chemicals distribution platform GracoRoberts to Tinicum LP.

Arlington, Texas-based GracoRoberts didn’t disclose terms of Tinicum’s investment in a Thursday, July 23, statement but noted company management will retain a significant interest and continue to lead the business.

The Deal in April reported Harris Williams LLC was running a broad auction process for GracoRoberts, which could result in a deal valued at north of $550 million. Sources expected GracoRoberts to be marketed on Ebitda around $55 million, with CM Equity likely looking for up to a low double-digit multiple of Ebitda.

GracoRoberts distributes a niche set of chemicals and equipment, including adhesives, cleaners, coatings, epoxy resins, composites, lubricants, sealants and silicones to aerospace original equipment manufacturers and maintenance, repair and overhaul, or MRO, services providers.

New York-based middle market investor CM Equity started GracoRoberts in September 2015 with the acquisition of Fort Worth-based Graco Supply & Integrated Services Inc. for an undisclosed sum. In April 2019, the firm merged Graco with E.V. Roberts to create what it said then was the largest aerospace-focused specialty chemicals distributor in North America.

GracoRoberts has completed six add-on deals during CM Equity’s hold of the platform, the company wrote in a January statement, including E.V. Roberts, Able Aerospace Adhesives, Silmid, SkyGeek, Pacific Coast Composites and Sky Mart.

Most recently, the company purchased Miami-based Sky Mart in January to expand its footprint in Latin America, where it said the addressable MRO market is $6.5 billion.

CM Equity typically writes equity checks of $10 million to $50 million for deals with enterprise values of $35 million to $150 million. The firm looks to acquire aerospace and federal solutions businesses with $5 million to $25 million of Ebitda and up to $250 million of revenue.

New York-based Tinicum owns manufacturing, infrastructure, distribution and industrial technology businesses and typically targets equity investments of $50 million to $500 million. It pursues buy-and-build strategies focused on operational improvement and complementary acquisitions.

Tinicum’s latest significant fund is the 2022 vintage Tinicum Fund, with roughly $2.3 billion in commitments.

The firm on Wednesday agreed to sell Astrodyne TDI Corp., a producer of power conversion and electromagnetic interference filtering products, to TE Connectivity plc (TEL) for $1.4 billion in cash.

GracoRoberts and CM Equity used Harris Williams for financial advice and David S. Cole, Andy C. Erickson and Cooper Littlejohn of Holland & Knight LLP for counsel. CM Equity managing partner Jeffrey Mark was on the sale internally.

Partners Erik Blumenkranz and Roddy Cruz worked on the acquisition at Tinicum, which looked to a Goodwin Procter LLP team led by Chris G. Wilson, Jennifer K. Bralower and Peter Hanoian for counsel. Goodwin also advised the sponsor on the Astrodyne sale.