LongWater Private Equity acquired a majority stake in Blastco, a Channelview, Texas-based provider of surface preparation, industrial coatings and tank rehabilitation services, and will use the business as the anchor of a national industrial coatings platform with add-on acquisitions planned. Existing leadership stays: Jay Soper continues to lead the company, while founder Terry Warren, owner of TF Warren Group, retains a minority stake and joins the board.
Blastco, founded in 1983, delivers field coatings solutions to municipal, federal, midstream and industrial customers. LongWater said the deal followed months of thesis work mapping the industrial coatings sector across energy, industrial and federal infrastructure end markets, which identified a highly fragmented field of founder- and family-owned contractors supported by recurring maintenance, repair and overhaul demand from an aging base of industrial assets.
The plan is a straightforward buy-and-build: add-on acquisitions that expand geographic footprint, service offering and customer relationships. Ice Miller served as legal counsel to LongWater, with Katz Sapper & Miller providing financial and tax diligence.