Calera Capital announces sale of Rock-It Cargo

Calera Capital, a leading middle-market private equity firm, completed the sale of its majority interest in Rock-It Cargo (“Rock-It” or the “Company”) to existing management and employees.  Rock-It is a leading provider of specialty freight forwarding and show production services to the live event markets.

James Halow, a managing director at Calera Capital, said, “The Calera-management partnership has led to a substantial transformation of Rock-It Cargo over the past 5 ¼ years.  The Company is significantly larger and more diversified, defensible, and profitable than when we initially invested, positioning it well for continued success.  At Rock-It, the Company entered new markets, geographies and business lines that leveraged its attractive model, increased the efficiency of its operations through investments in systems and personnel, and completed a number of select, value-added acquisitions that greatly expanded the platform.“

“We have very much enjoyed the opportunity to partner in this investment with David Bernstein, the CEO of Rock-It Cargo, and his entire management team,” added James Farrell, managing partner at Calera Capital.  “Their success in growing and building the business, alongside their meaningful initial rollover investment, allowed them to drive to a successful management buyout.  Going forward, the business has substantial growth opportunities ahead of it, and we wish them continued success in realizing its considerable further potential.”

“In 2009, we set out on our partnership with Calera to build a larger and more valuable business, and together we achieved all of our expectations,“ said David Bernstein, CEO of Rock-It.  “Rock-It has built an incredible business, and we look forward to the next chapter of our development while continuing to execute successfully on behalf of our clients and employees.”

Rock-It Cargo was a portfolio company of Calera Capital Partners IV.  Piper Jaffray acted as financial advisor to Rock-It Cargo and Goodwin Procter LLP acted as legal advisor.  Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom acted as legal advisor to Calera Capital.  Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

About Rock-It Cargo
The Rock-It group of companies provides value-added logistics and specialized manufacturing services to the live event market.  The Company was founded in 1978 with an initial focus on providing international freight forwarding services to the global music touring industry.  Rock-It Cargo has since expanded into show production services and similar adjacent logistics markets characterized by international destinations, a meaningful degree of complexity, and critical time sensitivity.  Through expansion into new markets and geographies, Rock-It has built a market-leading growth platform within the most attractive, defensible, and critical segments of the live event, fine art, industrial, corporate, and sports end markets.  For more information, please visit www.rockitcargo.com. 

About Calera Capital
Founded in 1991, Calera Capital is a private investment firm which currently has approximately $1.8 billion of capital under management.  With offices in San Francisco and Boston, Calera invests across a diverse range of industries including business services, consumer and retail, financial services, healthcare, building products, and industrial manufacturing.  Calera Capital makes substantial equity investments in operating companies, typically with enterprise values up to $1 billion, and seeks to build long-term sustainable value by working with management teams to implement strategic and operating initiatives.  For more information, visit www.caleracapital.com.

The securities referred to above have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 and may not be offered or sold in the United States unless registered under the Securities Act or under an applicable exemption from such registration requirements. This release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.