Spire Capital Portfolio Company, PROtect, LLC., Has Acquired Houston Integrity Consultants, LLC (HIC)

Expanding and adding new value-add capabilities to PROtect's Merchanical Integrity Division

NEW YORK, March 23, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- PROtect, LLC, a leading national safety, reliability, and compliance services firm based in Wichita, KS, successfully consumated its acquisition of Houston Integrity Consultants, LLC ("HIC"), a premier Houston, TX based specialized provider of Risk Based Inspection (RBI) services which includes industry-leading Inspection Data Management System (IDMS) software.  HIC is recognized for its proficiency in addressing complex inspection and reliability challenges faced by the oil & gas, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, renewables, and refining industries.

The combined PROtect, HIC organization will continue to be led by Nathan VanderGriend, President & CEO, and will be significantly enhanced by the addition of Stuart Beveridge and his HIC team to PROtect's Mechanical Integrity division.

"The acquisition of Houston Integrity Consultants represents a significant milestone for our company and compliments our current Mechanical Integrity ("MI"), Process Safety Management, and engineering capabilities" stated Nathan VanderGriend, President & CEO of PROtect. "With HIC's capabilities and experience, we can now offer our clients additional MI inspection program strategies and highly desirable software applications to support their overall programs. We are confident that this acquisition will benefit our clients and help us to achieve our long-term goals. We look forward to working together with the HIC team to deliver MI services and data management solutions to our clients." 

"We are excited to be joining PROtect and to bring our RBI service capabilities and software applications to a wider range of clients. Together with PROtect, we look forward to delivering new capabilities to our collective clients across a range of industries," said Stuart Beveridge, Operations Director of Houston Integrity Consultants. "We couldn't be more pleased to find the perfect partner in Nathan and his team. We share a very similar philosophy about caring for our people and visions for building best in class for our customers. I am excited to watch my team continue their personal and professional growth and finding added fulfillment in their new positions with PROtect."

The companies will retain all team members and both companies will operate under their current brands through the end of 2023. 

Dentons US LLP served as legal counsel to PROtect. Weycer, Kaplan, Pulaski & Zuber, P.C. served as legal counsel to HIC.

About Spire Capital Partners – Spire Capital (https://spirecapital.com/) is an active and experienced private equity firm with an investment focus in lower middle market companies within the technology-enabled business services, media, communications, and education sectors.  Spire Capital was founded on the principle of partnering with management teams and founders to help effectuate the next stage of growth for their companies.  Spire professionals have a broad array of past operating, investing, and advisory experiences that they leverage to assist portfolio companies in accelerating growth, guiding strategic direction, and executing their business plans.

Spire Capital is a New York based investment advisor registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Act of 1940.  Market conditions can vary over time and past fund performance does not guarantee future fund results.

About PROtect, LLC – Headquartered in Wichita, KS, PROtect, LLC (formerly ERI Solutions, LLC & DBI, Inc.) (https://protect.llc/) is a professional services company that provides safety, reliability, and compliance services to high-hazard industries such as biofuels, chemical, oil & gas, power generation, pulp and paper, and allied industries.  Such categories include advanced and conventional non-destructive testing (NDT), mechanical integrity (MI), environmental, health, safety, process safety, and insurance program management.  PROtect's engineers, consultants, and technicians dispatch to service our customers from various locations within the continental United States to ensure timely and cost-effective delivery of service.

PROtect also operates ERM SPC, Ltd., a segregated portfolio captive reinsurance company domiciled in the Cayman Islands focused on reinsuring workers compensation, general liability, and property of qualified risks.

About Houston Integrity Consultants, LLC (HIC) – The late John Tischuk, a pioneer of risk-based inspections, formed HIC (https://houstonintegrity.com/) in 2012. An expert that spent more than 40 years in the industry, John led the development of RBI by assisting in the writing of the original API documents on RBI. HIC, now led by Stuart Beveridge, has earned a reputation as a trusted partner for its' clients by consulting with them to evaluate equipment, inspection data, and develop strategic inspection programs to ensure safe and reliable operations.  HIC's team consists of highly experienced engineers and consultants.

SOURCE Spire Capital Partners