Partnership paves the way for further growth to support the demand for mission-critical infrastructure services
DENVER and BOSTON – January 30, 2025 – Frontline Road Safety (“Frontline” or the “Company”), the largest provider of pavement marking services in the U.S., today announced that Bain Capital has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Company from The Sterling Group (“Sterling”). Frontline will continue to be led by its Chief Executive Officer, Mitch Williams, and the current management team, who will remain significant investors in the Company. Financial terms of the private transaction were not disclosed.
Headquartered in Denver with over 50 locations across the U.S., Frontline specializes in providing essential, non-discretionary road marking and other roadway safety services to keep our nation’s most critical infrastructure safe and operational. With approximately 1,750 employees across its platform of dedicated local providers, Frontline leverages the knowledge and execution of its regional businesses alongside the benefits of national scale to deliver superior service to its customers. Since its inception, Frontline’s leadership team has completed 19 successful acquisitions to become the national leader in road safety solutions.
“Since launching the Frontline platform in 2020, Sterling has been proud to support the Company’s tremendous growth and expansion,” said Brad Staller, Partner at Sterling. “We would like to thank Mitch and the entire Frontline team for their leadership and partnership in building Frontline. We believe the Company remains well-positioned to continue expanding its services and geographic footprint.”
“We have reached an inflection point in our evolution as a leading platform for road safety solutions. We believe Bain Capital, with its proven track record of building true market leaders in services and distribution, is the right partner to enable us to accelerate our growth and support the value we deliver to our partners at DOT and large private construction contractors,” said Mr. Williams. “With Bain Capital’s strategic and operational support, coupled with a shared vision for our long-term growth strategy, we are well-positioned to leverage our local expertise and scale benefits, continue investing in our people and services, and build upon our platform to better meet the growing demand for infrastructure improvements across the U.S. We thank the Sterling team for their partnership and look forward to our next chapter of growth.”
“Frontline is a high-quality business providing mission-critical services, led by a proven management team that has done an impressive job of growing the business through a series of acquisitions and organically, while maintaining a commitment to operational excellence,” said Joe Robbins, a Partner at Bain Capital. “We look forward to a collaborative partnership with Mitch and his talented team to help accelerate Frontline’s acquisition strategy and scale the Company’s best-in-class platform. We believe the Company is well-positioned to continue growing its footprint, while providing differentiated value-added service to its customers.”
The investment is being made by Bain Capital’s Private Equity team, which has a long history of investments in industrial businesses and is one of the most active investors in the sector in the U.S. and globally. Frontline is the latest example of Bain Capital’s focus on investments in market-leading services and distribution platforms including Imperial Dade, US LBM, Dealer Tire, Guidehouse, and Harrington Process Solutions.
Harris Williams LLC and Guggenheim Securities, LLC are serving as financial advisors, and Latham & Watkins LLP is serving as legal advisor to Frontline Road Safety. Stifel and UBS Investment Bank are acting as financial advisors, and Kirkland & Ellis LLP is serving as legal advisor to Bain Capital.
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About Frontline
Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, Frontline Road Safety Group is the nation’s largest provider of pavement marking services. Frontline proudly serves a wide variety of customers and industries, including airports, government agencies, public highways, roads, and private corporations. Committed to a deep local operational leadership strategy, Frontline’s team members have decades of industry experience and technical expertise at every level. Through a team of best-in-class local operating companies, Frontline serves customers across the United States. These companies have an unmatched reputation and average of over forty years of successful experience building long-term relationships with their customers.
About Bain Capital Private Equity
Bain Capital Private Equity has partnered closely with management teams to provide the strategic resources that build great companies and help them thrive since its founding in 1984. Bain Capital Private Equity’s global team of more than 320 investment professionals creates value for its portfolio companies through its global platform and depth of expertise in key vertical industries including healthcare, consumer/retail, financial and business services, industrials, and technology, media and telecommunications. Bain Capital has 24 offices on four continents. Since its inception, the firm has made primary or add-on investments in more than 1,150 companies. In addition to private equity, Bain Capital invests across multiple asset classes, including credit, public equity, venture capital and real estate, managing approximately $185 billion in total assets and leveraging the firm’s shared platform to capture opportunities in strategic areas of focus. For more information, please visit: www.baincapitalprivateequity.com.
About Sterling
Founded in 1982, The Sterling Group is a private equity and private credit investment firm that targets investments in basic manufacturing, distribution, and industrial services companies. Typical enterprise values of these companies at initial formation range from $100 million to $750 million. Sterling has sponsored the buyout of 73 platform companies and numerous add-on acquisitions for a total transaction value of over $25 billion. Sterling currently has $9.2 billion of assets under management. For further information, please visit www.sterling-group.com.
GSI employees react to the news of the cash payouts they will receive upon close of the transaction (Photo: Business Wire)