Strength Capital Partners Completes Sale of CALco Pallet Company

Birmingham-based Strength Capital Partners, LLC (“Strength”) is pleased to announce the sale of CALco Pallet Company (“CALco”) to 48forty Solutions (“48forty”), a leading national pallet management provider. 

CALco is a vertically integrated wood pallet manufacturer with a company-owned sawmill and landscape mulching operation.  Their end-to-end capabilities give them complete control over the manufacturing process from raw lumber production to monetization of scrap wood through mulch sales.  CALco is one of the leading providers in the Chicagoland market.  The company operates out of three facilities in Richmond, IL, Chicago, IL, and Bryant, WI. 

CALco was founded in 2007 by brothers Matt and Greg Calhoun.  Matt and Greg grew and scaled the business consistently, generating revenue growth every year the business has been in operation.   They repeatedly re-invested into the business year-after-year as they had a clear vision as to what CALco could, and would, become. 

In 2019, Strength Capital acquired CALco, with Matt, Greg, and other key members of the CALco team maintaining a significant ownership stake in the business. 

Since Strength acquired CALco, the company has made significant investments in its operations to continue to grow the platform. Those investments include installing a new Viking 606 nailing machine, the installation of a new lumber cutting system, the purchase of a new Rotochopper grinder, the addition of a significant number of trailers to the fleet and moving the Chicago operation to a much larger facility, to name a few. 

Per Steve Stefanko, Vice President at Strength Capital: “This moment is bittersweet for us.  We are pleased to be able to offer a nice return to our investors.  At the same time, CALco is an incredible business that has been a joy to own.  The CALco team has been phenomenal to work with, and we will miss our interactions with Matt, Greg, and the rest of the team.  We believe 48forty is a perfect partner for CALco and will allow the business to continue their proven track record of substantial growth.  We wish the CALco and 48forty teams nothing but the best in the years to come.”

Read the full story at BusinessWire

About Strength Capital

Strength Capital is a lower-middle-market private equity firm investing in businesses with typically $2 - $20 million in EBITDA.  The Company was founded in Birmingham, MI by Managing Partners Mark McCammon and Mike Bergeron in 2000.  Over the years Strength has expanded from a two-man operation to a ten-person team operating out of offices in Birmingham, MI, Cincinnati, OH and Denver, CO.  Since inception, Strength has invested $550 million of equity across 30+ platform companies and has completed 40+ add-on acquisitions.