NEW YORK, Jan. 8, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — Aterian Investment Partners (“Aterian”), a private equity investment firm, announces that its portfolio company Bluewater Thermal Solutions completed the add-on acquisition of Southwest Heat Treat and Texas Energy Labs (“Southwest”) from selling shareholders on December 28^th, 2012. Southwest is located in Houston, Texas and has been providing high quality heat treating and laboratory analytical services since 1978 to a diverse roster of customers in the energy exploration and production end market.

Mike Wellham, Chief Executive Officer of Bluewater, said “The acquisition of Southwest Heat Treat and Texas Energy Labs is an important milestone for the company and provides significant end market diversification and additional geographic reach, both of which are key strategic drivers for our business. The businesses are customer-focused organizations that provide high levels of service to their customers and are well positioned in their key end markets. We are very happy with the addition of our new team members who have shown they are dedicated and driven by customer service. We are pleased with this recent development and look forward to furthering our core values of customer service, quality, technical expertise, and providing solutions to our customers.”

Brandon Bethea, Partner of Aterian, said, “Acquiring Southwest further demonstrates Aterian’s differentiated focus on close collaboration with our management teams to optimize value across our portfolio. During 2012, Aterian supported our portfolio companies as they launched new, environmentally friendly chemical product innovations, completed multiple add-on investments, invested in international growth initiatives and refined operational best practices. Aterian prides itself on being a nimble and strategic partner to our executive teams. The Southwest add-on was completed approximately 60 days after investing in the Bluewater platform itself. We look forward to working closely with the Bluewater management team in 2013 as they pursue additional key strategic priorities for the Company.”

About Aterian Investment Partners

Aterian Investment Partners is a private equity investment firm focused on providing capital to market leading small-to-middle businesses across a broad range of industries that represent unique situations, turnarounds, or otherwise are opportunities to collaborate with management to optimize profitability. Aterian targets businesses generating $25 million to $500 million in annual revenues with strong, proven franchises. Aterian’s principals have extensive experience investing in complicated and operationally intensive situations including corporate carve-outs, restructurings both in and out of bankruptcy, and strategic investments necessary to build and enhance value for all stakeholders. Aterian will use its fund to invest in both control and non-control situations across the capital structure in addition to bridging the entire purchase price, thereby providing sellers the utmost speed and certainty of closing. For more information, please visit http://www.aterianpartners.com.

About Bluewater Thermal Solutions (“Bluewater“)

Bluewater is a market leader in the North American commercial heat treating market. The Company provides a range of heat-treating processes designed to improve the mechanical properties, durability, and wear resistance of its customers’ metal component inputs. Headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina, Bluewater has eleven heat treating facilities located in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Texas and Ontario, Canada and employs approximately 450 total associates. To learn more about Bluewater, please visit http://www.bluewaterthermal.com.

SOURCE Aterian Investment Partners