JUNE 29, 2020

LindFast Organizational Announcement from CEO, Bill Niketas

LindFast Solutions Group (LSG), a leading master distributor of specialty fasteners in North America, announced today the promotion of three of its Vice Presidents to its Senior Leadership team. Bernie Longen, who previously served as Vice President of Sales, will take on the role of President of the Lindstrom division. John (OJ) Simpson who previously served as Vice President of Sales, will take on the role of President of the Stelfast division. And, Jon Newman, who previously served as Vice President of Purchasing and Quality, will take on the role of Senior Vice President of Purchasing, Quality and General Manager of the Mega Metric division. LSG also announced today the promotion of Bill Akerfeldt to Vice President and General Manager of LindFast Canada and Marvin Brown to Senior Director of Operations and Administration of LindFast Canada.
“We are extremely pleased to be announcing the promotion of these five key leaders in our company” said CEO, Bill Niketas. “Collectively, they have a decades long track record in this industry of taking care of customers, driving growth, and optimizing their organizations. But more importantly, they are all leaders who embrace our core values of: integrity, respect, ownership, collaboration, excellence, and humility. We are very proud to work with each of them, and we look forward to great times ahead for LindFast.”

SEPTEMBER 5, 2019

Nautic Announces New LindFast CEO and CFO

LindFast Solutions Group announces Bill Niketas as its new Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Niketas previously served as Executive Chairman of LindFast Solutions Group.

LindFast is a master distributor of specialty fasteners in the North American market serving a broad base of national, regional, and local distribution customers through its metric (Lindstrom) and imperial (Stelfast) product brands. As a master distributor, LindFast provides an important link in the fastener supply chain by offering a deep inventory as a “virtual warehouse” of approximately 130,000 low volume, slow moving SKUs that distribution customers need quickly but are non-economical to inventory and source themselves.

Mr. Niketas has previous experience as Chief Executive Officer of Aggregates USA, LLC where, under his leadership, the company tripled its EBITDA and ultimately sold to Vulcan Materials for $900 million, and President and Chief Executive Officer of Ram Tool and Supply Company, a large distributor of fasteners, tools, and other related products serving the construction sector where he led the company to dramatic growth in revenues and profitability.

Mr. Niketas also has prior experience as a Managing Director at Altec Industries, Inc., Senior Consultant at Accenture Consulting, and as an Apache helicopter pilot in the U.S. Army. Mr. Niketas earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the United States Military Academy (1989) and an MBA from Harvard Business School (1997).

Mr. Niketas succeeds Neil Yeargin who successfully led the Company through the acquisition of Stelfast Inc. in 2018 and the sale of the Company to Nautic Partners in 2019.
“Bill has a strong track record of growing businesses, enhancing performance, taking care of employees, and maximizing shareholder value. We are excited for Bill and his entire team to continue to build on the incredible success of the Company. We also thank Neil for his strong leadership during his time as CEO.” added Nautic Partners Managing Director Chris Pierce
"I am very honored to be taking on this new role with LindFast," said Mr. Niketas. "As Executive Chairman, I have seen LindFast’s relentless commitment to customers, unparalleled product offering, and superb employees continue to set it apart from the competition. We are also very appreciative of Neil’s leadership of the Company"

As part of the transition, Ben Buchanan will also be joining the Company as Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Buchanan previously served as Chief Financial Officer of US Greenfiber LLC. He also has prior experience as Vice President of Finance and Strategy of Aggregates USA, LLC, Director of Analytics at Express Oil Change, and Analyst at Founders Investment Bank. Mr. Buchanan earned a B.S. in Economics from Samford University and an MBA from the University of Kentucky.
Mr. Buchanan succeeds Tom O’Brien who was instrumental in the acquisition of Stelfast Inc. in 2018 and the sale of the Company to Nautic Partners in 2019.

APRIL 15, 2019

Nautic Partners Announces Acquisition of LindFast Solutions Group in Partnership with Management

Nautic Partners, LLC (“Nautic”) is pleased to announce that it has completed the acquisition of LindFast Solutions Group (“LindFast”), in partnership with LindFast management.

Headquartered in Blaine, MN, LindFast is a master distributor of specialty fasteners in the North American market serving a broad base of national, regional, and local distribution customers through its metric (Lindstrom) and imperial (Stelfast) product brands. As a master distributor, LindFast provides an important link in the fastener supply chain by offering a deep inventory as a “virtual warehouse” of approximately 130,000 low volume, slow moving SKUs that distribution customers need quickly but are non-economical to inventory and source themselves. These SKUs represent high‐touch, specialty products that can be difficult to source due to their unique length, diameter, thread pitch, metal choice, or finish. In addition to its unique product offering and virtual warehouse services, LindFast provides its distribution customers a range of value‐added services such as break bulk, packaging, kitting, plating, coating, and guaranteed stock programs, among others.

“We are excited to work with the Nautic team as we continue to grow our business and further enhance our customer experience. Our brands and customer relationships are strong today and will only improve as a result of this new partnership,” said Neil Yeargin, CEO of LindFast.

Chris Pierce, a Managing Director of Nautic, said, “LindFast has a deep, experienced management team and a great culture across the organization. We are thrilled to partner with them to support the company’s organic growth and cross-selling initiatives, as well as to pursue selective acquisitions in LindFast’s fragmented market. Additionally, we’re excited to again be investing in the fastener distribution industry following our previous investment in Endries International, which enabled us to have early conviction on the LindFast opportunity.”

Sean Wieland, a Vice President of Nautic, continued, “LindFast is a leader in its market and provides a truly compelling value proposition to its distributor customers. We believe the company has significant runway to continue to capitalize on its position of scale in the market to offer additional value-added services to the customer base, and we are excited to work with the management team on those efforts.”

Locke Lord LLP represented Nautic in the transaction and Ally Financial and GSO Capital Partners provided the financing for the transaction. BB&T Capital Markets and Blank Rome advised LindFast.
Headquarters: 2950 100th Court NE Blaine, MN 55449
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