Bertram Capital Exits NEFCO with Sale to Leonard Green

FOSTER CITY, Calif., Jan. 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Bertram Capital ("Bertram") announced today the completion of the sale of its portfolio company NEFCO Holding Company LLC ("NEFCO" or the "Company") to Leonard Green & Partners, L.P. ("LGP" or "Leonard Green"). The transaction represents Bertram's second exit from Fund IV and 23^rd exit since the firm's launch in 2006. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut, NEFCO serves as a trusted, value-added distributor of SHARP® (Strut, Hardware, Anchors, Rod and Pipe Hangers) products, Tools, Safety, and Consumables, serving professional contractors across the United States. Since Bertram's investment in August 2022, NEFCO has significantly expanded its geographic footprint, enhanced its value-added engineering and fabrication capabilities, and executed a disciplined buy-and-build strategy, including multiple strategic acquisitions and orangefield expansions.

"The successful sale of NEFCO builds on our proven track record of scaling high-quality specialty distribution platforms," said Kevin Yamashita, Partner at Bertram Capital. "By partnering with strong management teams and executing strategic M&A and organic investment, we have created a differentiated franchise that continues to deliver compelling outcomes."

Under Bertram's ownership, NEFCO expanded from a regional distributor into a national platform, strengthening its presence across end markets including data centers, infrastructure, healthcare, and other high-growth industrial categories. The Company invested heavily in people, technology, logistics, and sales force enablement to support its rapidly growing customer base.

"Bertram was a true partner to NEFCO," said Matt Gelles, President and CEO of NEFCO. "Their experience in industrial value-added distribution and commitment to supporting our long-term vision were instrumental in helping us aggressively scale the business while preserving our culture and customer-first mindset."

"NEFCO exemplifies the type of high-quality business we seek to partner with – a market leader with strong customer relationships, a differentiated value proposition, and an exceptional management team," said Chris Brown, Partner at Bertram Capital. "Working alongside the NEFCO leadership team, we accelerated the Company's growth through strategic acquisitions, organic expansion, and technology initiatives supported by Bertram Labs."

Bertram would like to thank the team at Solomon Partners, led by Jason Kliewer and Nick Troyer, for leading the NEFCO sale process. We would also like to acknowledge Houlihan Lokey, led by Reed Anderson and Tony Meixelsperger, and Hirschler, led by Andrew Lohmann and Lisa Hedrick, for their assistance with the process.

About NEFCO

NEFCO is a family-operated value-added construction supply company providing a broad range of products and services to professional contractors. With more than 70 locations across the United States, NEFCO provides industry expertise, large local inventories, fast dependable jobsite delivery, engineering services, and turnkey specialty fabrication and assembly of construction materials, specifically its SHARP® product basket, consisting of Strut channel and fittings, Hardware & fasteners, concrete Anchors, threaded Rod, and Pipe Hangers. For more information, visit www.GoNEFCO.com.

About Bertram Capital

Bertram Capital is a private equity firm targeting investments in lower middle market companies. Since its inception in 2006, the firm has raised over $4.0B of capital commitments. In addition to supplying strategic growth capital, Bertram Capital seeks to leverage proprietary processes and services, Bertram High-5^sm and Bertram Labs, to empower its portfolio companies to unlock their full business potential.

The Bertram High-5^sm is an operationally-focused value creation strategy, which includes management augmentation, operational initiative implementation, complementary business acquisition, sales and marketing improvements, and leveraging technology and IP. The cornerstone of this strategy is Bertram Labs, its in-house technology team, which aims to drive growth and value through digital marketing, e-commerce, big data and analytics, application development, and internal and external platform optimization. Bertram Capital V focuses on control investments in industrial, business services, and consumer sectors with north of $7.5M of EBITDA. Bertram Ignite I focuses on control and non-control investments in industrial, business services, and consumer sectors with a minimum of $3M of EBITDA.

Visit www.bcap.com for more information.

Contacts:
David Hellier
[email protected]

SOURCE Bertram Capital