News

Victory Park Capital (VPC), an asset management firm that specializes in direct credit and equity investing in lower middle market companies, today announced its SBIC Fund (“the Fund”) provided a senior credit facility to help finance the acquisition of O. Keller Tool Engineering Company (“O. Keller”) by Chicago-based private equity group, K.R. Abraham & Co. (“KRA”). In addition to the credit facility, the Fund also co-invested in the equity.

“Working in tandem with KRA, we believe we have the operational expertise necessary to continue to position O. Keller for strong financial performance.”

VPC’s partnership with management and KRA allowed for a recapitalization of O. Keller’s business and positions the company for further growth and expansion in its core markets. Post close, Brian Van Norman will continue in his role as President, actively running O. Keller’s day-to-day operations.

“Working in tandem with KRA, we believe we have the operational expertise necessary to continue to position O. Keller for strong financial performance,” said Tom Affolter, principal of the Fund. “We have great confidence that Mr. Van Norman and KRA are the right partners to lead the Company through its next phase of growth,” Affolter added.

K. Robin Abraham, President of KRA said, “VPC was extremely flexible when structuring their credit facility for the O. Keller transaction. In hindsight, the deal was changing almost weekly due to better-than-expected financial performance right up until we actually closed. We are very pleased that VPC was able to bring a financial solution to the table that ultimately allowed us to acquire such a great business. We look forward to partnering with them again in the future.”

Founded in 1943 and headquartered in Livonia, MI, O. Keller is a niche designer and manufacturer of highly-engineered tools, specialty gages, assembly line tools, and fixtures for Fortune 500 OEMs and tier one automotive suppliers.