BIRMINGHAM, Mich., May 14, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — Quarton Partners is pleased to announce that High Road Capital Partners has partnered with management and Charter Oak Equity to acquire The Crown Group, Inc. (“Crown”) from the Baer family, founders of Crown. Crown is a leading provider of high-quality coating services and solutions to the transportation, agriculture and general industrial end markets. Quarton Partners acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Crown in this transaction.

“Crown’s disciplined and systematic operational approach, including the ability to seamlessly integrate itself in its customer’s supply chain and provide value-added logistics services, is highly valued by its customers for whom avoiding business interruption or delays is paramount,” said William Connell, High Road Partner. “We are excited to work with Crown’s outstanding management team and Charter Oak to drive multiple growth initiatives.”

Frank Knoth, President of The Crown Group, said, “With the capital and operating support of High Road and Charter Oak, the management team looks forward to growing the business and continuing to provide best-in-class coating services to our customers.”

Crown (www.thecrowngrp.com) is a leading provider of high quality coating solutions to industrial end markets. Crown is headquartered in Warren, Michigan and currently operates from seven manufacturing facilities in Shelby, Detroit, and Livonia, Michigan; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Portland, Tennessee; Greenville, South Carolina and Waterloo, Iowa. Crown’s range of coating technologies include electro-coating (“e-coating”), e-coating with powder coating topcoat and water-based wet painting.

High Road Capital Partners (www.highroadcap.com) is a private equity firm focused on buying and building leading companies at the smaller end of the middle market. High Road Capital Partners was formed in 2007 and currently manages over $335 million of committed capital.

Charter Oak Equity (www.charteroak-equity.com) is a private equity firm specializing in investments in middle market companies. Charter Oak Capital Partners is based in Westport, Connecticut.

ABOUT QUARTON PARTNERS

Quarton Partners (www.quartonpartners.com), headquartered in Birmingham, Michigan, is a premier middle market investment banking firm, serving privately held and publicly traded companies, as well as private equity firms. Quarton Partners assists its clients with mergers and acquisitions, private capital raising, restructurings, valuations and other financial advisory services. Its principals have successfully completed hundreds of engagements in a variety of industries across the U.S. and throughout the world. Quarton Partners is an affiliate of Spearhead Capital, LLC.

SOURCE Quarton Partners