GF Capital To Purchase Trade Service

Jan. 26, 2007
GF Capital said it has acquired Trade Service Co. LLC, San Diego. The deal was financed with a $55 million loan from Golub Capital. Trade Service did not comment at press time

GF Capital said it has acquired Trade Service Co. LLC, San Diego. The deal was financed with a $55 million loan from Golub Capital. Trade Service did not comment at press time.

The acquisition represents the fourth time Trade Service has changed owners in the last eight years. In June 2005, a Trade Service management group bought the Trade Service business unit from i2 Technologies, Dallas, to run it as a private company.

Trade Service had been a privately held company for more than 70 years when it was owned by the Simpson family. The Simpsons sold the business in late 1999 to Boston Ventures Management Inc., a Boston-based equity group. I2 acquired Trade Service from that company in 2001.

GF Capital is a New York-based merchant banking firm that focuses primarily on principal investments in operating companies and real estate. GF Capital’s clients include institutions, leading entrepreneurs and executives, as well as the businesses which they manage.

Trade Service Co. (TSC), is a database provider of product and pricing solutions to 18,000 subscribers, primarily in the electrical, plumbing/HVAC, automotive and office product markets.

Mike Rioux, president of the Industry Data Exchange Association, who has been managing the Industry Data Warehouse (IDW) and IDEA’s other products since April 2000, said he doesn’t expect any change in IDEA’s relationship with Trade Service as a result of the acquisition.

“We have a no-cost, data-sharing agreement that has been in place since 1998 where both parties get information from each other for manufacturers that we can’t source. We would expect that the new owners would continue that agreement through the balance of the term.”