Waukesha-based
Automatic Entrances of Wisconsin, a provider of automatic door installation and services, has been acquired by San Francisco-based private equity firm
Alpine Investors for an undisclosed price.
Following the acquisition, AEM will become a part of
Cobalt Service Partners, a commercial access solutions platform created by Alpine Investors. AEW is Cobalt’s eighth acquisition this year.
AEW was founded by
Bill Holcomb in 1976 when he and his wife acquired a failing automatic door distributor and refocused the business. Holcomb hired a young salesman,
Jay Walt, in 1978, and the duo continued to grow the business over the subsequent decades.
Holcomb has retired after nearly 50 years as AEW’s owner. Walt will continue with the business.
“We grew the business with two guiding principles,” said Holcomb. “First, ‘Service feeds sales…which feeds service,’ and second, ‘Treat the customer the way you would expect if you were the customer.’”
Holcomb and Walt opted to sell the company to Alpine Investors because the men were looking for a "fresh perspective" and access to resources so that AEW could continue growing, according to a Monday announcement from the company.
“We couldn’t be more excited to welcome Jay, Bill, and the whole AEW team into Cobalt,” said
Anthony Gonzalez, co-CEO of Cobalt. “Jay and Bill have built a behemoth in the automatic door market by taking great care of their people and by providing excellent service to customers. We’re eager to double down on what made AEW great and are grateful for the opportunity to support the AEW team through this exciting next chapter.”
In the coming months, Cobalt plans to provide AEW with additional “leadership talent” to support the company’s growth.
