Carofin Completes Multi-million Dollar Financing for Corrosion Innovations LLC.
Carofin and CFS Announce Successful Acquisition Financing for Corrosion Innovations’ Purchase of Chlor*Rid™, a Division of Milliken & Company.
BREVARD, N.C., April 27, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Used on high profile projects such as the Coolidge Dam, the gantry for NASA’s Langley Research Center and the USS Saipan, Chlor*Rid™ and its accompanying Chlor*Test™ kits have been critical components for extending the life of property, equipment and infrastructure that are exposed daily to Mother Nature’s worst.
Led by Marlin Lester, a construction maintenance and integrity management services executive with experience leading multiple companies through exponential growth and acquisition, Corrosion Innovations (CI) saw an opportunity to acquire Chlor*Rid™ and its supporting product lines to drive enterprise value.
“Chlor*Rid™ has been a staple of the industry for over 30 years and was a strategic target of ours from day one,” said Marlin Lester, CEO of Corrosion Innovations. He continued, “The liquid products and test kits are utilized all over the world by many different industry segments, including the U.S. military. Our team of AMPP-certified subject matter experts is ready to integrate Chlor*Rid™ into our market-leading business and provide a synergistic approach to soluble salt removal and testing in the industry.”
“The Chlor*Rid™ team has developed the premier salt testing and removal solutions,” said Matt Valentine, Corrosion Innovations’ new Director of Sales and long-term employee of Chlor*Rid™ Products. “I am confident that Corrosion Innovations will continue to provide the service that our customers have come to expect and that our collective industry expertise will unlock the full potential of the Chlor*Rid™ product offerings.”
Metal-substrate contaminants such as soluble salts, nitrates, chlorides, and sulfates are the leading cause of all coating failures for our nation’s aging infrastructure. CI, located in Houston, Texas, was founded in 2020 to bring new patented scientific and engineering technologies to the well-known $276B annual problem of corrosion. The company has a specific focus on microbial contamination treatments across a variety of surfaces. The acquisition of this business unit of Milliken expands CI’s product offering in complimentary ways.
CI engaged Carofin, a leading investment bank focused on direct private investment, to source a capital provider to complete its acquisition of Chlor*Rid™. Acquisition financing was provided by Mizzen Capital, a certified women and minority owned firm that specializes in lower middle-market lending through its inaugural $270M senior secured credit fund.
“Rust contamination on steel infrastructure and equipment wastes this essential and carbon intensive resource and creates safety problems due to weakened structures,” said Liddy Karter, Mizzen Capital Managing Partner. “Mizzen is thrilled to support Marlin and the CI team as a capital partner so that they can tackle this enormous and persistent problem.”
“Carofin helped us navigate the myriad of financing options we contemplated to get this acquisition completed,” said CI Chairman, Archie Cox Jr. “In an challenging market, Carofin swiftly brought compelling lenders to the table so we could pick the most appropriate one and get back to work.”
“It has been an honor advising Marlin and Archie as clients,” said Carofin CEO and Founder Bruce Roberts. “Additionally, we’re excited for CI’s relationship with Mizzen. As lenders they have been transparent, competitive on pricing and swift in their analysis of CI’s outsized value proposition.”
Carolina Financial Group (CFG), Carofin’s and CFS’s parent company, is a private investment bank that structures investments and raises vital capital for small to medium-sized businesses seeking growth capital in the U.S. Carofin and CFS have raised over $1.25B since 1995 across more than 200 private transactions. For more information, visit Carofin’s website.
