Valence Surface Technologies Acquires Three Finishing Shops

Valence Surface Technologies, a partnership formed in 2013 by Coast Plating in Los Angeles and Chrome Plus International in Kansas, has acquired three plating shops to add to its portfolio of metal finishing businesses, bringing the total to seven across the U.S.

Pride Plating in Tulsa, Oklahoma; Dynamic Paint Solutions in Eastman, Georgia; and Coastline Metal Finishing in Garden Grove, California, will join the Valence group to provide extensive finishing solutions across the U.S., said David Stinnett, Managing Director at Trive Capital, which financed the Valence Surface Technologies partnership and the most recent acquisitions.

Valence also acquired CSL Plating in Santa Clara, California, and a second Coast Plating operation earlier this year.

David Stinnett, managing director at Trive Capital, says the acquisitions create the largest independent metal finishing group in the aerospace supply chain capable of servicing the West Coast, Midwest, Oklahoma/Texas and Southeast machining/assembly markets.

“The addition of the Pride, DPS and CMF businesses provides Valence entrance into critical aerospace machining markets, as well as access to new OEM relationships and technical expertise that will be shared across the enterprise,” Stinnett says. “Valence and Trive will also continue to invest to expand capacity, implement production systems and add services in each location to position the company as an efficient, one-stop offering to its machining customers.”

Stinnett says Pride Plating differentiates in the processing and sub-assembly of large aluminum and titanium aerostructures, particularly on aircraft with complex contours and/or masking requirements such as the F-35. He said DPS focuses on commercial and general aviation finishing, and is strategically located in Georgia with close proximity to the emerging aerospace machining hubs in the southeast. CMF specializes in intricate plating and other unique surface treatments on mission critical components utilized in the space/satellite, unmanned-aerial-vehicle, missile and commercial aircraft interior niches.

Trive has completed six transactions during the past nine months to create the Valence organization, with the vision to build a differentiated surface technology platform that provides solutions to challenges faced by the aerospace supply chain.

“The acquisition of these new facilities exemplifies our ability to move quickly and serve as the preferred partner of owner-operators in executing on a shared strategic plan,” says Conner Searcy, managing partner at Trive Capital, a Dallas, Texas-based private equity firm that is currently investing from a $300M institutional fund raised in 2013.

Tim Mickael and Jorge Della Costa, senior leaders of Coast and Chrome Plus, respectively, are part of the Valence executive team. In addition, General Merrill A. McPeak, former chief of staff of the United States Air Force, joined the new company’s board of directors in an advisory role.

Salem Partners, a Los Angeles-based investment bank focused on middle-market mergers and acquisitions, acted as the exclusive advisor to the shareholders of Coast Plating and Chrome Plus when the Valence group was formed.