CPE News (6/21/2021) – The Wesbell Group of Companies Inc. has closed a significant equity investment led by FirePower Equity with participation of Crédit Mutuel Equity and Trilogy Capital.
Mississauga, Ontario based Wesbell provides cell tower engineering, site acquisition, steel fabrication, installation, and investment recovery services to a variety of carrier, broadcast, and corporate clients.
Originally founded in 1964 as Wesbell Transport via a partnership between M.J. Campbell and Westmount Moving and Storage, Wesbell addressed the growing need to provide specialized transportation and distribution services to the communications industry. Today, The Wesbell Group of Companies Inc. is a privately held Canadian company with Wesbell Technologies as its primary lineof business.
photo credit: Mike Goad via pixabay
News Release
Wesbell secures private equity sponsorship from FirePower Equity, Crédit Mutuel Equity and Trilogy Capital
Transaction will enable Wesbell to expand its service offering, geographic footprint and execute on its build-to-own cell tower strategy as well as to make strategic acquisitions
TORONTO, June 21, 2021 /CNW/ – Wesbell Technologies and Wesbell Investment Recovery (“Wesbell,” or “the company”), a leading Canadian telecommunications services provider, today announced the successful closing of a significant equity investment in the company led by FirePower Equity, with Crédit Mutuel Equity and Trilogy Capital. The transaction will enable Wesbell to accelerate its continued growth strategy, expand into new markets and geographies in North America and serve its carrier clients even more effectively as the telecommunications industry continues to transition to next-generation 5G networks.
The partnership will allow Wesbell to continue providing its industry leading services, and to build a strong, comprehensive, and reliable network of owned and operated wireless and broadcast communications infrastructure. These initiatives will also allow the carriers to achieve and maintain broad network coverage at a lower cost than that of building and owning the towers themselves.
“Today’s announcement is the culmination of an extensive search for the right strategic and financial partners with the vision, expertise and agility to supercharge the growth of our business,” said Nick Mazze, President & CEO, Wesbell. “We’re excited to partner with our new investors and deploy this capital to grow our presence in Canada and the United States and further cement our position as a strategic partner to our clients, particularly at this critical inflection point for the industry as it transitions to 5G.”
“We are truly excited about this transaction and what it means for Wesbell’s business. Nick and his team have built an incredible company with high quality assets and a very attractive market position as the go-to problem solvers for clients’ critical network infrastructure needs. We look forward to working with them on the next chapter of their growth story” commented Anthony Lipschitz, Partner at FirePower Equity.
“Wesbell is a top-tier telecom services business and a value-add partner to all its North American carrier customers. We are thrilled to be partnering with the company to expand its national platform and grow its service offering” said Benoit Lacelle, Principal at Crédit Mutuel Equity.
“On behalf of the new ownership group, we’d like to thank Stephen Smith and his team at Meridian for their support and innovation”, commented Stephen Reid of Trilogy.
Wesbell provides cell tower engineering, site acquisition, steel fabrication, installation, and investment recovery services to a variety of carrier, broadcast, and corporate clients. The company has operations across Canada and the eastern and midwestern United States, with over 300 employees and a client base that includes most of the major providers. The company plans to aggressively grow its footprint in Canada and into the west coast of the United States and to pursue targeted M&A opportunities.
About FirePower Equity
Based in Toronto and Montreal, with over 35 professionals, FirePower Equity is the Private Equity arm of FirePower Capital. FirePower Capital invests in, lends to and advises Canada’s entrepreneurs by helping them complete mission-critical transactions. Our objective is to become the first resource business owners turn to in the most important times.
For more information, visit www.firepowercapital.com
About Crédit Mutuel Equity
Crédit Mutuel Equity is the private equity subsidiary of Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale and carries out venture capital, growth capital and buyout activities.
Crédit Mutuel Equity supports business leaders at all stages of their companies’ development, from seed phase to buyout, by providing them with the means and the time required to implement transformational projects. Crédit Mutuel Equity brings together a network of over 350 business leaders and entrepreneurs who share similar convictions and can benefit from one another’s experience, no matter the nature of their projects. Using its own funds (€3.0 billion), Crédit Mutuel Equity makes investments tailored to the time horizons and growth strategies of the companies in which it invests, whether in France, Canada, the United States, Germany or Switzerland.
For more information, visit www.creditmutuelequity.com
About Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale
One of France’s leading bankinsurers, operating through nearly 4,300 branches serving 26.7 million customers, Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale offers a diversified range of services to private individuals, locally-based professionals and companies of all sizes. Ranking among Europe’s strongest banking groups, its equity totaled €49.6 billion and its CET1 ratio was 17.8% as of December 31, 2020.
*Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale comprises the Crédit Mutuel local banks from the following federations: Centre Est Europe (Strasbourg), Sud-Est (Lyon), Île-de-France (Paris), Savoie-Mont Blanc (Annecy), Midi-Atlantique (Toulouse), Loire-Atlantique et Centre-Ouest (Nantes), Centre (Orléans), Normandie (Caen), Dauphiné-Vivarais (Valence), Méditerranéen (Marseille), Anjou (Angers), Massif Central (Clermont-Ferrand) and Antilles-Guyane (Fort-de-France). Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale also encompasses Caisse Fédérale de Crédit Mutuel, Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel (BFCM) and all its subsidiaries, in particular CIC, Euro-Information, Assurances du Crédit Mutuel (ACM), TARGOBANK, Cofidis, Banque Européenne du Crédit Mutuel (BECM), Banque Transatlantique and Homiris.
More information: www.creditmutuelalliancefederale.fr
About Trilogy
Calgary-based Trilogy Capital invests private capital into closely-held businesses seeking a committed partner to provide liquidity or growth capital.
About Wesbell
The Wesbell Group of Companies Inc. is a privately held Corporation. For over 50 years, through its various subsidiaries, Wesbell provides a wide range of services to the communications industry including Wireless Construction, Engineering, Installation, Electrical Contracting Services, Network Integration, Investment Recovery and Recycling, along with a full suite of transportation, warehousing and logistics services offerings to all industry types.
Visit www.wesbell.com or call 1 888 WESBELL
SOURCE The Wesbell Group of Companies
For further information: Wesbell Communications: Contact Nick Mazze, nmazze@wesbell.com; FirePower Equity contact alipschitz@firepowercapital.com; Crédit Mutuel Equity contact benoit.lacelle@cm-equity.ca; Trilogy Capital contact sreid@trilogycapital.ca