Northborne Partners

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – October 24, 2023 – Northborne Partners is pleased to announce that it served as the exclusive financial advisor to Gilbert & Jones (“G&J”) on its acquisition by Shrieve Chemical Company (“Shrieve”), a portfolio company of Gemspring Capital. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Gilbert & Jones is a premiere distributor of industrial chemicals throughout North America. Based in New Britain, Connecticut, Gilbert & Jones delivers a broad product offering to customers across a range of industries and applications, including aerospace, water treatment, fasteners, automotive, electronics, and other industries.

Ben Marks, Managing Director at Northborne, commented “Over its 30 year history, G&J developed a great niche supporting market-leading customers with a complete assortment of leading chemistry and materials from world-class supplier-partners.” This transaction represents Northborne’s third completed transaction in the chemicals & materials space in 2023.

Gilbert & Jones Founder and CEO, George Gilbert, added, “Joining forces with Shrieve represents an exciting chapter for Gilbert & Jones. We have always been dedicated to delivering high quality products and services to our customers. With the support and resources of Shrieve, the existing G&J team is confident that we can take our long history of exceptional service and innovation to the next level.”

Reid & Riege served as legal counsel to G&J in the transaction.

About Northborne Partners

Northborne Partners is a preeminent middle market investment banking firm focused on providing M&A advisory services to companies in the food & consumer, healthcare, industrials and business services sectors. It specializes in advising privately held business owners on complex sell-side transactions. Northborne Partners is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and actively advises clients throughout North America. For more information, please visit northborne.com.

About Gilbert & Jones

Gilbert & Jones is a one-stop shop for premium specialty and industrial chemicals to a diverse array of attractive end markets, including aerospace, fasteners, automotive, electronics, and other markets. Based in New Britain, CT, Gilbert & Jones maintains strategic partnerships with 200+ suppliers and 750+ loyal customers, and offers general industrial chemicals, branded proprietary chemicals and other related products. Capabilities include international procurement, multi-sourcing, regulatory compliance, less-than-truckload, inventory management, and other logistics. For more information, visit www.gilbertandjones.net.

About Shrieve

Shrieve, based in The Woodlands, TX, is a leading, value-added chemicals distributor serving attractive markets and end-use applications globally. Since its founding in 1978, Shrieve has leveraged its knowledge network to find the best match between suppliers, customer needs, and product applications. Through its four operating segments, Chemical Distribution, Specialty Lubricants and Enhancers, Energy Products and Services, and Custom Packaging, Shrieve markets nearly 1,500 products across more than 40 countries. For more information, visit www.shrieve.com.

About Gemspring Capital

Gemspring Capital, a Westport, Connecticut-based private equity firm with $3.5 billion of capital under management, provides flexible capital solutions to middle market companies. Gemspring partners with talented management teams and takes a partnership approach to helping drive revenue growth, value creation, and sustainable competitive advantages. Target companies have up to $500 million in revenue and are in the aerospace & defense, business services, consumer, financial and insurance services, healthcare services, industrial services, software and tech-enabled services, or specialty manufacturing sectors. For more information, visit www.gemspring.com.