LOS ANGELES, CA -- Transom Capital Group (“Transom”), an operations-focused middle market private equity firm, announced the acquisition of Virginia Tile Company, LLC (“Virginia Tile”). Virginia Tile is a Midwest-based specialty distributor of design-centric tile, decorative surfaces and installation accessory products headquartered in metro Detroit. Virginia Tile will be joining forces with Galleher, LLC (“Galleher”) to create a leading flooring and tile products distributor of national scale with unique product development, merchandising and fulfillment capabilities. This milestone marks a significant change in the landscape of the domestic flooring distribution market.

Galleher is the largest floor covering distributor in the western U.S. and the third largest flooring distributor in the U.S. offering hardwood flooring, luxury vinyl plank and installation accessories. Virginia Tile is the leading tile distributor in its core Midwest markets, with 19 showrooms across 12 states, offering a vast assortment of tile and decorative surfaces products. The companies sell to the professional consumer, including flooring contractors, dealers & showrooms, commercial installers, builders, designers & architects, and other customers.

Together, the two companies have greater geographic reach and will provide customers with complementary products and additional resources to solve complex problems. The combination of these two best-in-class distributors will benefit their suppliers, customers and employees, while maintaining attention to detail, ingenuity and values their reputations have each been built on. The combined companies will be better positioned to leverage industry leading manufacturer partnerships and collaborative teams poised for future expansion.

The combined company will be led by Sunil Palakodati as CEO, who will also remain president of Virginia Tile; Rick Coates as president of Galleher; and David Burke as CFO. Sunil brings 22 years of building products industry experience, including four years as CEO of Architectural Surfaces Group. David was most recently CFO of Skybridge Technologies and has more than 20 years of experience in finance and accounting, including 10 as a CFO. Rick has 47 years of industry experience. With the acquisition of Virginia Tile, Transom Capital will exercise its deep operational knowledge and expertise to integrate the two companies, working alongside management to drive growth across geographies, new product introductions and market expansion.

 “Virginia Tile has an impressive history and reputation with its customers and suppliers and is a trusted solutions provider for builders and contractors across the Midwest,” said Russ Roenick, managing partner at Transom. “We look forward to collaborating with management to integrate and cross-pollinate best practices among these two leading specialty distributors to create an asset of unique scale and national reach.”

"We are excited to build on Galleher’s momentum through the combination with Virginia Tile, which unlocks an expanded geographic reach, a broader product portfolio, and greater service capabilities," said Steve Kim, principal at Transom.

“Harren prides itself on assembling world class management teams and executing on an operational, sales and systems strategic plan in an atmosphere of respect and collaboration,” commented Tom Carver, managing partner of Harren Equity Partners. “In the case of Virginia Tile, we were exceedingly blessed to have a management team and a board who are not only fabulous executives, but also world-class human beings. We are thrilled that the team gets to partner with other first-class organizations in Transom and Galleher.”

Together, Galleher and Virginia Tile will be a market leader across surfaces and installation products in the residential and commercial markets. The combined business will operate as an independent entity within Transom's portfolio of companies. The acquisition will provide additional leadership and expertise, financial backing to accelerate product innovation, new market expansion and stronger customer relationships.

Sunil Palakodati, CEO said, “I am privileged to facilitate the joining of two great companies that share a passion for providing customers with technical solutions, partnering with industry leading manufacturers and building collaborative teams offering high touch local sales support. With Transom’s support and investment, we can accelerate our capabilities.”

Rick Coates, president of Galleher said, “We are confident that the merging of these two companies will provide our customers access to greater resources while offering the same attention to detail and ingenuity in providing unique solutions to challenging customer problems. We also believe that the merger of the two companies will provide our employees access to greater resources and opportunities to serve customers even more effectively, while also creating new and exciting opportunities for personal development and advancement.”

“The opportunity to work with Virginia Tile has been exceedingly rewarding and it is fulfilling to be a part of a transaction when we really fired on all cylinders,” reflected Bryan Martter, vice president at Harren.

PNC Bank and Blue Torch Capital provided debt financing for the transaction. Houlihan Lokey served as the exclusive financial advisor to Virginia Tile.