Wingate Partners Sells Dunn Paper

Wingate Partners, Dallas, Texas, USA, a private equity firm, has completed the sale of its portfolio company, Dunn Paper Inc. to Arbor Investments, a Chicago-based private equity firm. Dunn is a producer of made-to-order specialty papers and tissues for food packaging and consumer product markets.

Wingate partnered with the Dunn management team to acquire the business in July 2010. During the subsequent six years, Dunn built an outstanding foundation and executed a transformative acquisition to offer even more unique value to its market-leading customers.

"Brent and the Dunn team have done an outstanding job of executing day in and day out to achieve a compelling vision. They are first class people and world class operators. It's been a privilege to partner with them," said Brad Brenneman, chairman of Dunn and a partner at Wingate.

Brent Earnshaw, Dunn's CEO, said that "Wingate has been a great partner. They have brought a wealth of experience and a low-ego, highly approachable style that has made them a pleasure to partner with. The Dunn team looks forward to continuing our growth with our new partners at Arbor."

Brian Steinbrueck, partner at Wingate, added that "Dunn represents the ideal type of investment for Wingate. Prior to our investment, Dunn had been a relatively fragile business in a difficult industry. However, Dunn has consistently provided a highly valuable service to its customers and the Dunn team has done a terrific job of executing on opportunities to make the business more differentiated and successful."

In connection with the transaction, a Houlihan Lokey team led by Bill Peluchiwski and Matt Bowersox provided financial advice to Wingate and Dunn. Haynes and Boone provided legal advice.

Dunn Paper is a supplier of high-performance, advanced paper materials for a range of lightweight technical food packaging and consumer markets. The company produces a wide array of specialty waxed, coated, and uncoated MG papers used in various foodservice and flexible packaging markets as well as high absorbency, porous, and lightweight tissue products for niche consumer applications. The company has six mills located throughout the eastern U.S. and Canada.