Meritus Gas Partners Announces Partnership with Craig Welding Supply

NEW YORK, Sept. 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Meritus Gas Partners ("Meritus") announced today that it entered into a partnership with Craig Welding Supply Co. ("Craig Welding"), a leading independent distributor of packaged gases and welding supplies headquartered in Vernon, CA. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The Craig family has owned and operated Craig Welding since its inception in 1952. The company serves the greater Los Angeles area from its centrally located gas production and distribution facility and retail store. The company is well-regarded in Los Angeles for its commitment to quality and customer service and its broad customer base represents various industries, including food processing and packaging, metal fabrication and manufacturing.

"While our business was founded in 1952, our roots date back to 1930 with my grandfather selling welding supplies from his Model T Ford," said Steve Craig, Craig Welding's President. "Over three generations, Craig Welding has earned the reputation as Los Angeles County's go-to welding and gas distributor. We operate in the heart of industrial Los Angeles in the industrial enclave of Vernon, and our success is directly attributable to our commitment to exceptional customer service. We are excited to join Meritus and look forward to utilizing Meritus' resources and expertise to continue to grow and better serve our customers in the region. We are thrilled that our 90+ year old business has become a critical part of a dynamic and growing industrial gas organization in 2023."

"Craig Welding is a great fit for Meritus, and we are excited to welcome their team into the Meritus family," said Meritus' Chairman, Scott Kaltrider. "The company's history in the competitive Los Angeles market is a testament to the Craig family's commitment to superior customer service and the efforts of their dedicated employees. Craig Welding furthers our strategy to expand our presence in the West and provides Meritus with a foundation to build a platform industrial gas business in Southern California. Meritus can turbocharge the Craig business by leveraging the Craig infrastructure and turn-key facility and providing additional management and financial support."

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 mezzanine and senior debt investments. AEA Small Business Private Equity is a strategy within AEA that currently manages approximately $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
Kate Thompson / Erik Carlson
Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher
+1 (212) 355-4449
[email protected]

SOURCE Meritus Gas Partners