Quadrant warms up lenders for Jaybro bolt-ons; talks under way
Quadrant Private Equity is chasing debt investors to stock up on dry powder for its construction supplies business Jaybro, which recently crossed $450 million in annual revenue.
Sources said Quadrant initiated talks with its existing lenders for an accordion facility in recent weeks, but not with external investors yet. An accordion would allow it to extend debt available under Jaybro’s current borrowing relationships.
Chief executive of Jaybro, Adrian Palumbo, at the company’s headquarters in Sydney. Flavio Bracaleone
The size of the deal was not known. However, it would be shown to the same lot that tipped into its $380 million buyout financing syndicated by Credit Agricole and Credit Suisse last year.
Jaybro has supplied about 10,000 items – think high-vis vests, road-closed signs and drill bits – to construction sites out of its warehouses, which can deliver orders within four hours.
Quadrant bought it off CPE Capital for $620 million in late 2021. The seller, CPE, had paid $170 million to buy Jaybro in 2017 after beating rival bidders Wesfarmers and Crescent Capital Partners. At the time, the business was making about $100 million in annual revenue and $20 million in earnings.
Quadrant brought in ASX-listed Reece Corporation’s chief operating officer, Adrian Palumbo last year. Palumbo served as Jaybro’s operations chief for a year, before moving up to CEO in July.
In a recent interview with The Australian Financial Review, he said Jaybro had grown at about 15 per cent annually for the past four years. He also flagged Jaybro is on the lookout for bolt-on acquisitions.
Jaybro was founded in 1996 by the Joyce family, which hadlinks to the Brethren Christian group. That connection to the controversial church was
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