Natural Resource Partners (NRP) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire VantaCore Partners LP, a privately held limited partnership specializing in the construction materials industry, for $205 million.
Formed in 2006 to acquire profitable, well-managed and competitively advantaged mid-sized aggregates companies, VantaCore may now be one of the top 25 aggregates producers in the United States.
To date VantaCore has successfully integrated seven companies and has an experienced management team in place that will facilitate future growth both organically and through additional acquisitions. Headquartered in Philadelphia, VantaCore operates three hard rock quarries, six sand and gravel plants, two asphalt plants and a marine terminal.
Its current operations are located in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky and Louisiana. VantaCore is currently owned by a consortium of institutional investors, including Trilantic Capital Partners as majority owner, Kayne Anderson Energy Development Co., Hartz Alternative Investments, LLC and Corridor Private Holdings Inc., and by members of its management team.
VantaCore will be operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of NRP, and will continue to be managed by VantaCore’s Chief Executive Officer Colin Oerton and Chief Operating Officer Perry Donahoo. NRP anticipates that VantaCore will generate approximately $25 million in EBITDA over the next 12 months.
“With this acquisition, we are continuing down the path of diversifying NRP, building on our recent track record of smart, well-considered additions to our natural resource properties. Upon completion of the acquisition, NRP will have invested over $550 million since January 2013 in non-coal related businesses and, as we demonstrated with our second quarter results, those acquisitions are contributing significant additional cash flows to NRP,” said Wyatt Hogan, executive vice president of NRP.
“This acquisition also will significantly enhance NRP’s platform for growth in the construction aggregates business, especially through VantaCore’s operations that supply limestone and base material to oil and gas companies in the Marcellus and Utica shale plays,” continued Hogan. “We are acquiring an experienced management team as well as all of the approximately 230 employees who currently operate VantaCore’s businesses. We are excited to welcome them into the NRP family. NRP is focused on dedicating more capital to the construction materials industry, and this acquisition brings us the experienced team that will allow NRP to make that happen.”
“We are thrilled to become part of the NRP team, and look forward to utilizing NRP’s capital and industry knowledge to continue to grow our business,” said Oerton.