Meritus Gas Partners Announces Partnership with Advanced Gases

NEW YORK, March 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Meritus Gas Partners ("Meritus") announced today that it entered into a partnership with Advanced Gases & Equipment Inc. ("Advanced Gases"), a leading independent distributor of packaged gases and welding supplies headquartered in Sacramento, CA. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Advanced Gases serves the greater Sacramento area from three facilities: its gas production and distribution facility and retail store in West Sacramento, CA and retail stores in Placerville, CA and Jackson, CA. The company's diverse customer base represents various industries, including metal fabrication, construction, wineries and agriculture. Owner and President Mike Hamilton will continue to lead the business following the transaction and will maintain equity ownership in Meritus.

"My partner and I started Advanced Gases in 2007 and grew it together into a successful welding and gas distributor in Sacramento," said Hamilton. "Following the unfortunate death of my partner in 2023, I was unexpectedly forced to make a decision about the future of the business. I considered continuing to operate the business as the sole owner, selling the business outright to a strategic acquirer, or partnering with Meritus. We elected to proceed with Meritus to preserve our company's brand and legacy and to be a member of a larger, more diversified business. We are excited to be joining Meritus and look forward to utilizing Meritus' resources and expertise to accelerate our growth and better serve our customers in the region."

"Advanced Gases is a great fit for Meritus, and we are excited to welcome Mike Hamilton, his wife Myriam Simental and their dedicated employees into the Meritus family," said Meritus' Chairman, Scott Kaltrider. "Advanced Gases is well-regarded in the Sacramento area for its commitment to product quality and responsive customer service. We are confident that we can expand Advanced Gases' capabilities and reach into new markets, including university research and food and beverage. Advanced Gases furthers our strategy to expand our presence in the West and provides Meritus with another building block upon which to build a diverse industrial gas business in Northern California."

About Meritus Gas Partners
Founded in December 2020, Meritus is a portfolio company of AEA Investors Small Business Private Equity.  Meritus is assembling a national network of high-quality independent distributors of industrial, medical and specialty gases and welding and safety supplies, located in diverse geographies and serving growing end-markets. Meritus will partner with exceptional businesses and management teams, allow them to remain independent and entrepreneurial and support them to accelerate growth, improve business quality and enhance value. Owners are invited to invest meaningful equity into the Meritus holding company to allow them to share in the success of the overall platform.  Visit us online at www.MeritusGas.com.

About AEA Investors 
AEA Investors LP was founded in 1968 by the Rockefeller, Mellon and Harriman family interests and S.G. Warburg & Co. as a private investment vehicle for a select group of industrial family offices with substantial assets. AEA has an extraordinary global network built over many years which includes leading industrial families, business executives and leaders; many of whom invest with AEA as active individual investors and/or join its portfolio company boards or act in other advisory roles. Today, AEA's approximately 120 investment professionals operate globally with offices in New York, Stamford, San Francisco, London, Munich and Shanghai. The firm manages funds that have approximately $19 billion of invested and committed capital including the leveraged buyouts of middle market companies and small business companies, growth capital and debt investments. AEA Small Business is a strategy within AEA that currently manages $3 billion of invested and committed capital. The team seeks to help grow and transform companies at the lower end of the middle market by sponsoring growing companies with proven management teams and superior business models.

Contacts

AEA Investors
Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher
Michael Freitag, Kate Thompson and Woomi Yun
+1 (212) 355-4449
[email protected]

SOURCE Meritus Gas Partners