J.C. Whitney & Co., a automotive accessories cataloger with annual sales of $170 million, has been acquired by Riverside Co., a leveraged buyout firm. The price was not disclosed.
Riverside owns several automotive after-market suppliers, including Aceomatic-Recon, Dynojet Research and Hammerblow Corp., some of which supply Whitney. It also owns Keepsake Quilting, a cataloger with annual sales of $18 million.
The acquisition is the 16th conducted from the $413 million Riverside Capital Appreciation Fund.
Riverside CEO Brooke W. Ablon said that, although they serve two markets, Whitney and Keepsake Quilting will probably have some purchasing synergies.
The purchase will not result in any staff reductions, said Whitney president Tim Ford. The firm has 600 employees.
“We have some internal things to take care of, but it will be business as usual,” said Ford.
Founded in 1915 by the Warshawsky family, Lasalle, IL-based Whitney mails roughly 38 million paper catalogs a year. It has catalogs and Web sites for truck, motorcycle, Jeep, Volkswagen, sports compact and sports truck owners, and recently started them for all-terrain vehicle and Harley-Davidson enthusiasts.
The firm has 1.6 million names on its enhanced database, including more than 327,000 three-month buyers, according to a data card from L90 Direct. The average unit of sale is $125.
Products include auto and truck parts, and a range of tools, manuals and accessories.
Whitney markets online through affiliates, e-mail and Internet ads, and it has one retail outlet located at its LaSalle, IL warehouse.
Ablon said in a statement that Whitney met “a number of key investment criteria.”
These include the fact that it has a strong brand name and long history. In addition, “its market has been growing and is expected to continue growing at a solid pace.”
Ablon added that Riverside sees opportunities for improving “the performance of the company and to build the business during our ownership through add-on acquisitions as well as organic growth.”
Last year, Whitney curtailed its annual catalog circulation by 5% in response to a loss of motor vehicle data resulting from passage of the Shelby amendment in 2000 (DIRECT, Sept. 15, 2001).
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