Trimlite Acquires Francis-Schulze Company

Renton, WA – September 20, 2023 – Trimlite Equity, L.P. (“Trimlite” or the “Company”) announced today that is has acquired Francis-Schulze Company. (“F-S” or “Francis-Schulze”). Members of the Francis and Schulze families will continue as shareholders in Trimlite. Financial terms were not disclosed. Francis-Schulze is a leading distributor of exterior door products and hardware. Founded in 1957 and headquartered in Russia, Ohio, Francis-Schulze has developed a strong presence across the Ohio Valley by providing high quality products and value-added services to its diverse network of customers.

“I’d like to thank the Francis and Schulze families for their decades-long stewardship of this high-quality company. Ken and the families have built a wonderful distribution company and their values complement ours. We look forward to supporting Francis-Schulze in their next phase of growth,” said Patrick Hooper, CEO of Trimlite.

“As we started to plan for the next chapter for Francis-Schulze, we felt that Trimlite was the best fit for our people, our customers, and our suppliers,” said Ken Francis, President of Francis-Schulze. “Their commitment to service, quality, and their industry expertise gave us a confidence that Francis-Schulze will be in great hands as the business continues to grow.”

Trimlite was acquired by Wynnchurch Capital L.P. (“Wynnchurch”) in July 2021. “Wynnchurch welcomes Francis-Schulze to the Trimlite team. We are excited to partner with Ken and Francis-Schulze to continue to grow their business,” said Brian Crumbaugh, Partner at Wynnchurch. Francis-Schulze is the second acquisition by Trimlite since Wynnchurch Capital acquired Trimlite.

Francis-Schulze was represented by The JIAN Group as part of the acquisition.

About Francis-Schulze:

Founded in 1957 by D.J. Francis, Francis-Schulze Company is a family-owned and operated distributor of wholesale building materials to lumber dealers, home centers and door specialists. The company’s steadfast commitment to quality products, manufacturing excellence and superior customer service has made Francis-Schulze Company an industry leader and dealer of choice for 60 years. For more information, please visit: https://www.francisschulze.com/. 

About Trimlite:

Founded in 1982, Trimlite Equity, L.P. is a value-added distributor of residential doors and related door products in North America. The Company supplies a broad offering of interior and exterior door slabs, prehung doors, door glass and doorlites, and other related products which are sold through its network of wholesale distributors, dealers and OEM customers. For more information, please visit: https://www.trimlite.com.

About Wynnchurch Capital:

Wynnchurch Capital, L.P., headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois, with an affiliate in Canada, was founded in 1999, and is a leading middle-market private equity investment firm. Wynnchurch’s strategy is to partner with middle market companies in the United States and Canada that possess the potential for substantial growth and profit improvement. Wynnchurch Capital manages a number of private equity funds with $5.7 billion of regulatory assets under management and specializes in recapitalizations, growth capital, management buyouts, corporate carve-outs and restructurings. For more information, please visit: https://www.wynnchurch.com.

For more information please contact:

Brian Crumbaugh

Partner [email protected]

847-604-6100

Kevin Hanley

Principal [email protected]

847-604-6100

Alex Randall

Vice President [email protected]

847-604-6100