HOUSTON, March 5, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — The Sterling Group (“Sterling”), a middle market private equity firm, announced today that it has completed the sale of Frontline Road Safety (“Frontline” or the “Company”) to Bain Capital. Frontline is the largest provider of pavement marking and ancillary services in the U.S. Financial terms of the private transaction were not disclosed.
Headquartered in Denver with over 50 locations across the U.S., Frontline specializes in providing essential, non-discretionary road marking and other roadway safety services to keep our nation’s most critical infrastructure safe and operational. Frontline leverages the knowledge and execution of its regional businesses alongside the benefits of national scale to deliver superior service to its customers.
Sterling launched the Frontline platform in 2020 with the near-simultaneous acquisitions of three founder-led regional pavement marking firms. Sterling recruited Mitch Williams, the CEO of a previous Sterling portfolio company, to lead the newly formed management team. Nate Reeve, a member of the Sterling investment team, moved to Denver for a year to assist in establishing the corporate headquarters function and the infrastructure required to build and scale Frontline. During Sterling’s ownership, Frontline completed nineteen total acquisitions, seventeen of which were of family or entrepreneur-owned businesses. Sterling’s experience partnering with family sellers and history of sharing economics with employees were important factors in building Frontline.
“Since launching the Frontline platform in 2020, Sterling has been proud to support the Company’s tremendous growth and expansion,” said Brad Staller, Partner at Sterling. “We would like to thank Mitch, the excellent field leaders, and the entire Frontline team for their leadership and partnership in building Frontline. We believe the Company remains well-positioned to continue expanding its services and geographic footprint.”
Harris Williams LLC and Guggenheim Securities, LLC served as financial advisors, and Latham & Watkins LLP served as legal advisor to Frontline Road Safety. Stifel and UBS Investment Bank acted as financial advisors, and Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal advisor to Bain Capital.
About Frontline Road Safety
Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, Frontline Road Safety Group is the nation’s largest provider of pavement marking services. Frontline proudly serves a wide variety of customers and industries, including airports, government agencies, public highways, roads, and private corporations. Committed to a deep local operational leadership strategy, Frontline’s team members have decades of industry experience and technical expertise at every level. Through a team of best-in-class local operating companies, Frontline serves customers across the United States. These companies have an unmatched reputation and average of over forty years of successful experience building long-term relationships with their customers.
About The Sterling Group
Founded in 1982, The Sterling Group is a private equity and private credit investment firm that targets investments in basic manufacturing, distribution, and industrial services companies. Typical enterprise values of these companies at initial formation range from $100 million to $750 million. Sterling has sponsored the buyout of 73 platform companies and numerous add-on acquisitions for a total transaction value of over $25 billion. Sterling currently has $9.2 billion of assets under management. For further information, please visit www.sterling-group.com.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results and all investments are subject to loss.
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SOURCE The Sterling Group, L.P.
