Harris williams & co. advises gso capital partners in its sale of
stolle machinery, llc
Richmond, va.--(business wire)--harris williams & co., premier middle market investment bank, announces the sale of stolle machinery, llc (stolle), a portfolio company of gso capital partners lp (gso), to strategic buyer toyo seikan kaisha, ltd. (toyo seikan; tse:5901), for $775 million. the transaction closed on november 3, 2011 and was led by mike hogan, chris williams, john arendale, jershon jones and karl kirkeby from the firm’s richmond office. harris williams & co. acted as the advisor to stolle, and was also the advisor to stolle in 2008 in its sale to gso. “stolle is the market and technology leader in the can-making equipment industry and represents a unique platform with great prospects for continued growth,” said mike hogan, a managing director at harris williams & co. “the company has successfully executed on its strategic plan to grow its international business in high-growth emerging markets, expand its aftermarket parts and services business by closely partnering with its customers, and continue to build upon its track record of impressive growth through both organic initiatives and strategic acquisitions.” “we continue to see a high level of activity from strategic buyers, and in particular have seen an increase in the number of middle market companies acquired by asian buyers,” said chris williams, a managing director and co-founder of harris williams & co. “stolle is harris williams & co.’s third sale to a japanese buyer in just over six months.” stolle, headquartered in centennial, co, manufactures a wide array of highly engineered equipment used by global can-makers to manufacture and decorate aluminum or steel can bodies and easy-open ends used primarily to package carbonated soft drinks, beer and various foods. stolle has a global footprint, servicing customers in north america, europe, and high growth emerging markets such as the middle east, latin america, asia, and africa. gso, a subsidiary of the blackstone group l.p. (nyse:bx), is one of the largest credit-oriented alternative asset managers in the world and a major participant in leveraged finance. founded in 2005, gso seeks to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns across a variety of investment strategies. gso has approximately $34 billion in assets under management as of august 2011. toyo seikan, headquartered in tokyo, japan and established in 1917, installed and commissioned the first can-making facility in japan in 1919. today, toyo seikan manufactures and sells packaging containers made of various materials and sells machinery for food packaging and packaging systems and technical services. toyo seikan devotes itself to the manufacturing of containers based on the fundamental importance of packaging and supplies containers to answer the packaging needs of today. harris williams & co. (www.harriswilliams.com), a member of the pnc financial services group, inc. (nyse:pnc), is the premier middle market advisor with a two-decade legacy of sell side excellence serving clients worldwide. the firm is focused exclusively on the middle market and provides sell side and acquisition advisory, restructuring advisory, board advisory, private placements and capital markets advisory services. for more information, contact mike hogan or chris williams at +1 (804) 648-0072. investment banking services are provided by harris williams llc, a registered broker-dealer and member of finra and sipc, and harris williams & co. ltd, an appointed representative of sturgeon ventures llp, which is authorized and regulated by the financial services authority. harris williams & co. is a trade name under which harris williams llc and harris williams & co. ltd conduct business in the u.s. and europe, respectively. for general release inquiries, please contact kimberly baker, marketing director, at +1 (804) 648-0072.
