Ridge Road Capital Partners’ (“Ridge Road” or “Ridge Road Partners”), and Aeterna Capital Partners’ (“Aeterna”) portfolio company, Kitchen Art of South Florida (“Kitchen Art”), has expanded to the West Coast of Florida with the opening of a new location in Fort Myers. The move will allow the company to better serve its homebuilder clients on the West Coast. Kitchen Art has developed a leading presence in Southeast Florida over multiple decades, where it serves several of the largest homebuilding companies in the United States.
Ridge Road’s Adam Jiwan and Michael Mager, along with Aeterna, bought Kitchen Art, one of the largest kitchen and bathroom cabinet design and installation firms in the U.S., in November 2014 from retiring co-founder Gail Jones. Until the sale, Kitchen Art had been family-owned since its founding in 1989.
On selling her business of 30 years to Ridge Road and Aeterna, Gail Jones, the former sole-owner of Kitchen Art, said: “The ownership transition went incredibly smoothly. The acquiring team was accommodating and responsive. Since the acquisition, they have strengthened the areas of the Company that I had difficulty with and have maintained the core strengths that made my Company successful. I would highly recommend Ridge Road and Aeterna for other business owners looking to sell their companies to experienced owners who will work hard to ensure their companies’ future success.”
Following the acquisition, Ridge Road and Aeterna expanded Kitchen Art’s management team and focused on operational and financial efficiencies. These efforts, including tightening working capital management, standardizing operating processes across the firm, and upgrading financial reporting and controls, helped drive a meaningful increase in cash flow which will support further growth in the future.
Kitchen Art’s Chief Executive Officer, Doug Haynes, participated alongside Ridge Road and Aeterna in the 2014 buyout. Commenting on the process, Haynes noted, “Since the deal closed, our team has expanded, and Ridge Road and Aeterna were instrumental in implementing systems and processes that have accelerated our growth and improved our financial management. I have enjoyed the partnership and look forward to continuing to grow the company with Ridge Road’s and Aeterna’s support for many years to come.”
Ridge Road Partners’ Michael Mager has led the transformation on behalf of Ridge Road. Commenting on Kitchen Art’s successful expansion to the West Coast of Florida, Mager said: “Kitchen Art’s expansion is a milestone for the company. We have learned through experience that the company creates significant value for its customers, which include some of the largest production homebuilders in the country. We believe that we can replicate Kitchen Art’s success in South Florida across all of the geographies where our homebuilder customers have presence. We are very proud of what the team has accomplished.”
About Ridge Road Capital Partners
Ridge Road is a leading owner-operated investment holding company that buys and builds great businesses. It provides flexible long-term capital as well as financial and operational expertise to companies internationally. Ridge Road’s investments include traditional buyouts of family businesses, intensive turnarounds and restructurings, highly selective company builds, and opportunistic public investing. Since the formation of the first investment partnership in late 2012 by Adam Jiwan and Brian Norton, the group has made six successful investments that have spanned North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.
For more information, please visit: http://ridgeroadpartners.com/
About Kitchen Art
Founded in 1989, Kitchen Art is among the ten largest, by revenue, kitchen and bathroom cabinet design and installation companies in the United States. Kitchen Art specializes in kitchen and bathroom cabinetry, complete kitchen renovations, wet bars, home offices, closets, and media rooms.
The company is led by Chief Executive Officer Doug Haynes, who successfully navigated Kitchen Art through the financial crisis and participated alongside Ridge Road and Aeterna in the acquisition.
For more information, please visit: http://kitchenartdesigncenter.com/
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