NEW
YORK, July 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Meritus
Gas Partners ("Meritus") announced today that it entered into a
partnership with City Carbonic, LLC ("City Carbonic"),
headquartered in Oklahoma City,
OK. Financial terms of the transaction were not
disclosed.
Owned by the Morgan family since 1944, City Carbonic is a
leading supplier of carbon dioxide and carbonation services to the
food and beverage industries and the cannabis market, serving
Oklahoma City and its surrounding
areas. Third-generation co-owner Amy Morgan
Bruecks will continue to lead the company as President while
maintaining significant equity ownership in Meritus.
"This partnership with Meritus represents a significant
milestone in City Carbonic's history, and we are excited to join
forces with the Meritus team and its partner company network," said
Bruecks. "Sadly, my parents, Louis and
Irene Morgan, are not with us to celebrate this milestone.
Both favored exploring this partnership with Meritus, and I know
they would be proud to see it consummated. By leveraging Meritus'
extensive partner company network and resources, we will strengthen
our service offerings and provide new growth opportunities for our
employees and customers."
To date, Meritus has operated in Oklahoma through its partner company, Tulsa
Gas & Gear, headquartered in Tulsa,
OK.
"We are pleased to welcome City Carbonic, their employees, and
their customers into the Meritus family," said Meritus' Chairman,
Scott Kaltrider. "City Carbonic has
an excellent reputation in the greater Oklahoma City market, and its growth in
CO2 has been exponential. City Carbonic and Tulsa Gas
& Gear give Meritus a significant presence in Oklahoma's two largest and growing
markets."
"The Morgan family and the City Carbonic team have been leaders
in CO2 distribution in Oklahoma for nearly 100 years," said
Steve Stobaugh, President, Tulsa Gas
& Gear. "We look forward to learning from their expertise and
best practices. We are also excited to help them expand City
Carbonic's product offerings to include industrial, medical, and
specialty gas products. Tulsa Gas & Gear has long desired to
enter the Oklahoma City market,
and City Carbonic is very well positioned to serve the various
industries operating there."
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 over 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 debt investments. AEA Small
Business Private Equity is a strategy within AEA that
currently manages $3.5 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
Joele
Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher
Kate Thompson / Erik Carlson
+1 (212) 355-4449
AEA-JF@joelefrank.com
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SOURCE Meritus Gas Partners