Lone Star Agrees to Buy Titan from Carlyle, Stellex Capital

Kiel Porter and Trista (Xinyi) Luo, Bloomberg News

An employee welds steel boat parts at the Scheepsreparatie Gebr Matena BV ship repair yard in Papendrecht, Netherlands, on Monday, Feb. 20, 2017. Nothing cuts through Europe like the Rhine. Fought over for centuries, the river is at the core of postwar integration, the open market and the euro. Now the battle is over the future of that project in an historic year of elections starting this week in the Netherlands, France a month later and then Germany in September. Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Closely held investment group Lone Star Funds has agreed to buy industrial shipping repair and fabrication firm Titan Acquisition Holdings from peers Carlyle Group Inc. and Stellex Capital Management.

While terms for the deal weren’t disclosed in a statement Friday, Bloomberg News previously reported a deal could value Titan at about $2 billion. The deal is expected to close this year upon satisfaction of customary conditions, including certain governmental approvals.

“Throughout a particularly unprecedented time, with the pandemic and supply chain constraints, the Titan team has continually executed on its strategy to successfully grow the business, refine its market segments, and expand into new geographic territories,” Derek Whang, managing director at Carlyle, said in a statement. “Titan is well-positioned to maintain its positive trajectory.”

Titan, the parent of Vigor Industrial, MHI Holdings and Continental Maritime, works with customers including Boeing Co., Northrop Grumman Corp., Lockheed Martin Corp. and the US Navy and Army.

“We are grateful to Carlyle and Stellex for enabling the strategic investments made over the past several years, which include the acquisition of CMSD, the repurchase of critical assets, and investments in technologies and equipment aimed at improving our service offerings,” said Titan Chief Executive Officer Jim Marcotuli, who is staying in his current role as part of the deal, in the statement.

The deal extends the past year’s run of private equity acquisitions of defense-related companies. Maxar Technologies Inc. agreed to be purchased by Advent International in December while Carlyle agreed to buy ManTech International last May, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Lazard Ltd. is acting as Lone Star’s financial adviser, with Kirkland & Ellis providing legal advice. Bank of America Corp. and Evercore Inc. are financial advisers to Carlyle and Stellex, with Latham & Watkins acting as legal adviser.

(Updates with earlier transactions in sixth paragraph. The spelling of Titan was corrected in one instance in an earlier version of this story.)