Har-Tru’s products include several types of clay for tennis courts. Images courtesy of Har-Tru.
Update: This story has been updated to report the fact that investment banking firm SunTrust Robinson Humphry represented Luck in the Har-Tru transaction.
An upstart downtown private equity firm and a nearly century-old local company struck a deal this week that brings together members of two of the most well-known family names in the Richmond business scene.
The Luck Companies, a Goochland-based company known for its quarries and stone yards, on Monday sold its Har-Tru Sports brand of tennis court clay and accessories for an undisclosed sum.
The buyer was Tuckahoe Holdings, a fledgling private equity firm run by brothers Peter and Stuart Farrell. The brothers are the sons of Tom Farrell, CEO of downtown-based utility giant Dominion Resources.
Peter Farrell, a director at Tuckahoe Holdings and a member of the state House of Delegates, said the firm liked Har-Tru’s niche and its alliance with Luck Companies.
“We thought it was a business that has a strong position and a good history of steady business,” he said.
Tuckahoe Holdings launched about a year ago and is based on the 20th floor of the SunTrust Center, Farrell said. It looks for companies it can buy and hold. Its first deal was the acquisition of a hospital linen company about nine months ago.
“We’re not flippers,” Farrell said. “We prefer companies that are low-tech and we like if they have some sort of distinction and a geographic or regional monopoly.”
Farrell said they also like to allow the existing management of their target companies to remain on and run the day-to-day, as is the case with the Har-Tru deal.
“We don’t need to come in and shake up a company and fire a bunch of management,” he said.
Har-Tru also makes red clay courts.
Pat Hanssen, president of Har-Tru who will continue in that role under the new ownership, said the company received interest from prospective buyers from both inside and outside the tennis industry. He said a field of suitors was whittled down to four, with Tuckahoe Holdings beating out the bunch.
“We really liked them right away,” Hanssen said. “They came forward with good energy, excitement about the brand and the industry we were in. They appreciate the stability of the tennis and our niche in the industry.”
Hanssen said Har-Tru has 38 employees, all of whom were given the chance to remain under the new owners and most of whom has chosen to stay. He said the company does not share details about its sales and revenue.
Luck Cos. was represented in the Har-Tru transaction by investment banking firm SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.
Har-Tru keeps its headquarters in Charlottesville and has a manufacturing facility in Louisa County. It gets the clay from a Luck quarry in Shadwell, Virginia. From there it is hauled to the Louisa site where it’s crushed and bagged and shipped out to tennis courts around the country. Some of its biggest customers are in Welch Tennis and 10-S Supply. Florida is one of its best markets, Hanssen said.
Hanssen said Har-Tru is best known for its clay courts, but that product makes up slightly less than half of the company’s revenue. The remainder comes from its sale of tennis court equipment, tools and accessories, such as nets and net posts.
Locally, Hanssen said the company’s clay can be found on most of the clay courts in Richmond, including Country Club of Virginia.
The sale of Har-Tru puts to rest one of two planned dispositions that the Luck Companies has had in the works for about six months. It is also looking to sell its Luck Stone Centers division, which operates as a sort of retail chain for commercial customers like builders and masons to shop and pick up stone products.
Luck said last month that the sales were part of its effort to focus on its core business of quarrying crushed stone through its main Luck Stone unit. It had owned Har-Tru since 1998.
“It’s been awesome to work for the Lucks, because they are great people,” Hanssen said. “But we were a very small unit in a very large company and I think this (sale to Tuckahoe) will free us up to perhaps behave like the small company that we are.”
A sale of Luck Stone Centers was still in the works, as of press time.
As for future deals for Tuckahoe Holdings, Peter Farrell, the older of the two brothers, said the company couldn’t comment on what its next targets might be.
Farrell said his father is not formally involved in Tuckahoe Holdings. Rather, he serves as an informal advisor, “as a father.”
Har-Tru’s products include several types of clay for tennis courts. Images courtesy of Har-Tru.
Update: This story has been updated to report the fact that investment banking firm SunTrust Robinson Humphry represented Luck in the Har-Tru transaction.
An upstart downtown private equity firm and a nearly century-old local company struck a deal this week that brings together members of two of the most well-known family names in the Richmond business scene.
The Luck Companies, a Goochland-based company known for its quarries and stone yards, on Monday sold its Har-Tru Sports brand of tennis court clay and accessories for an undisclosed sum.
The buyer was Tuckahoe Holdings, a fledgling private equity firm run by brothers Peter and Stuart Farrell. The brothers are the sons of Tom Farrell, CEO of downtown-based utility giant Dominion Resources.
Peter Farrell, a director at Tuckahoe Holdings and a member of the state House of Delegates, said the firm liked Har-Tru’s niche and its alliance with Luck Companies.
“We thought it was a business that has a strong position and a good history of steady business,” he said.
Tuckahoe Holdings launched about a year ago and is based on the 20th floor of the SunTrust Center, Farrell said. It looks for companies it can buy and hold. Its first deal was the acquisition of a hospital linen company about nine months ago.
“We’re not flippers,” Farrell said. “We prefer companies that are low-tech and we like if they have some sort of distinction and a geographic or regional monopoly.”
Farrell said they also like to allow the existing management of their target companies to remain on and run the day-to-day, as is the case with the Har-Tru deal.
“We don’t need to come in and shake up a company and fire a bunch of management,” he said.
Har-Tru also makes red clay courts.
Pat Hanssen, president of Har-Tru who will continue in that role under the new ownership, said the company received interest from prospective buyers from both inside and outside the tennis industry. He said a field of suitors was whittled down to four, with Tuckahoe Holdings beating out the bunch.
“We really liked them right away,” Hanssen said. “They came forward with good energy, excitement about the brand and the industry we were in. They appreciate the stability of the tennis and our niche in the industry.”
Hanssen said Har-Tru has 38 employees, all of whom were given the chance to remain under the new owners and most of whom has chosen to stay. He said the company does not share details about its sales and revenue.
Luck Cos. was represented in the Har-Tru transaction by investment banking firm SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.
Har-Tru keeps its headquarters in Charlottesville and has a manufacturing facility in Louisa County. It gets the clay from a Luck quarry in Shadwell, Virginia. From there it is hauled to the Louisa site where it’s crushed and bagged and shipped out to tennis courts around the country. Some of its biggest customers are in Welch Tennis and 10-S Supply. Florida is one of its best markets, Hanssen said.
Hanssen said Har-Tru is best known for its clay courts, but that product makes up slightly less than half of the company’s revenue. The remainder comes from its sale of tennis court equipment, tools and accessories, such as nets and net posts.
Locally, Hanssen said the company’s clay can be found on most of the clay courts in Richmond, including Country Club of Virginia.
The sale of Har-Tru puts to rest one of two planned dispositions that the Luck Companies has had in the works for about six months. It is also looking to sell its Luck Stone Centers division, which operates as a sort of retail chain for commercial customers like builders and masons to shop and pick up stone products.
Luck said last month that the sales were part of its effort to focus on its core business of quarrying crushed stone through its main Luck Stone unit. It had owned Har-Tru since 1998.
“It’s been awesome to work for the Lucks, because they are great people,” Hanssen said. “But we were a very small unit in a very large company and I think this (sale to Tuckahoe) will free us up to perhaps behave like the small company that we are.”
A sale of Luck Stone Centers was still in the works, as of press time.
As for future deals for Tuckahoe Holdings, Peter Farrell, the older of the two brothers, said the company couldn’t comment on what its next targets might be.
Farrell said his father is not formally involved in Tuckahoe Holdings. Rather, he serves as an informal advisor, “as a father.”