Slate Capital Group, a private equity firm with Baltimore as one of its headquarters, last month acquired a Virginia-based plumbing contractor with blue-chip clients, and a value-added distributor of specialty metals in Ohio.
Vertical Mechanical Group, based in Sterling, Va., carries out HVAC and plumbing contracts, with a focus on commercial projects. Formed in 2021 from a merger of Anderson Mechanical Services and Inspiration Plumbing Company, the company’s clients include large hotels, multi-family housing and senior living facilities.
Cleveland, Ohio-based Cumberland Diversified Metals, founded in 1985, trades in specialty metals in the United States, Mexico and Canada. It is particularly focused on stainless steel, aluminum, titanium and nickel.
Growth Prospects
“As one of the pre-eminent HVAC and Plumbing contractors in the Mid-Atlantic, VMG is the ideal partner for us to pursue our growth objectives in the eastern United States,” said Erik Ginsberg, co-founder and managing partner of Slate Capital. “This partnership is a terrific opportunity to provide financial support and bring knowledge assets to VMG.”
The investment in Cumberland would bring tremendous growth opportunities, on account of the steady demand for specialty metals like aluminum and stainless steel, said Slate Capital co-founder Rick Corcoran.
“We’ve had fortunate experience in the metals industry with O’Donnell Metal Deck, which proved that an accomplished, nimble and customer-friendly solution provider can really thrive in its niche,” Corcoran, a former Boston Consulting Group executive said.
Cumberland CEO Alex Newman said the company has decades of industry knowledge and some of the “deepest relationships” in the specialty metals industry. “Now that we are partnered with Slate Capital Group, we have a financial partner who can assist us in achieving our ambitious growth plans. We are really excited about our future together,” he added.
Slate Capital’s other portfolio companies include Horizon, an Allentown, Pa.-based provider of outsourced services to the rental car industry under the Managed Labor Solutions banner; and Elkridge, Md.-based O’Donnell Metal Deck & Bar Joist, a value-added distributor of metal decking and steel bar joist for the commercial construction industry.
Slate is led by co-founder and managing partner Ginsberg, a veteran of the private equity industry. Besides stints at DB Capital Venture Partners, ABS Ventures, Sterling Capital and Kirkland & Ellis, he co-founded and ran Let’s Dish! Mid-Atlantic, a retail chain of meal assembly stores in Maryland and Virginia. Ginsberg is a 1988 graduate of Brown University and received his J.D./M.B.A. from the University of Chicago in 1993.
Corcoran, Slate’s co-founder with Ginsberg, is an investor, entrepreneur, operator and consultant. He has previously served as CEOs of two Slate portfolio companies — First Source and CoastTec. With Ginsberg, he also co-founded Let’s Dish! Mid Atlantic. Corcoran is a 1995 graduate of Princeton University and received his M.B.A. from Stanford University in 2000.
Slate eyes controlling stakes in companies with annual cash flow of $3 million to $15 million, primarily those with headquarters in the eastern half of the United States. Besides Baltimore, it has offices in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Nashville, Tenn.
