Wingate Partners announces sale of Dunn Paper

DALLAS, Aug. 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Wingate Partners ("Wingate"), a Dallas-based private equity firm, completed the sale of its portfolio company, Dunn Paper, Inc. ("Dunn") to Arbor Investments ("Arbor"), a Chicago-based private equity firm.  Dunn is a U.S. leader in made-to-order specialty papers and tissues for food packaging and consumer product markets.

Wingate partnered with the Dunn management team to acquire the business in July 2010.  During the subsequent six years, Dunn built an outstanding foundation and executed a transformative acquisition to offer even more unique value to its market-leading customers.  "Brent and the Dunn team have done an outstanding job of executing day in and day out to achieve a compelling vision.  They are first class people and world class operators.  It's been a privilege to partner with them," said Brad Brenneman, Chairman of Dunn and a Partner at Wingate.

Brent Earnshaw, Dunn's CEO, commented, "Wingate has been a great partner.  They have brought a wealth of experience and a low-ego, highly approachable style that has made them a pleasure to partner with.  The Dunn team looks forward to continuing our growth with our new partners at Arbor."

Brian Steinbrueck, Partner at Wingate, added, "Dunn represents the ideal type of investment for Wingate.  Prior to our investment, Dunn had been a relatively fragile business in a difficult industry.  However, Dunn has consistently provided a highly valuable service to its customers and the Dunn team has done a terrific job of executing on opportunities to make the business more differentiated and successful."

In connection with the transaction, a Houlihan Lokey team led by Bill Peluchiwski and Matt Bowersox provided financial advice to Wingate and Dunn.  Haynes and Boone provided legal advice.

About Dunn Paper

Dunn Paper is a leading supplier of high-performance, advanced paper materials for a range of lightweight technical food packaging and consumer markets. The company produces a wide array of specialty waxed, coated, and uncoated MG papers used in various foodservice and flexible packaging markets as well as high absorbency, porous and lightweight tissue products for niche consumer applications. The company has six mills located throughout the eastern US and Canada.

About Wingate Partners

Wingate Partners (www.wingatepartners.com) was founded in 1987 to purchase controlling equity interests in companies where there is the opportunity to create value through superior operational and strategic execution.  Typically, Wingate's investments fall into two primary categories: profitable companies in changing or out of favor industries and under-performing companies.  In both cases, equity value is created by improving the operating performance of the business and by developing long-term strategies to exploit changing industry dynamics.  Our professionals bring substantial senior-level operating and strategic experience in addition to extensive careers in acquiring companies.

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SOURCE Wingate Partners