Press Releases

CLEVELAND, OH – March 23, 2015 – Ninth Street Capital Partners (Ninth Street), a Cleveland-based private investment firm, has sold its investment in IOS. Exiting the Houston, Texas-based Company generated a 3.9x cash-on-cash return and a 31% IRR for Ninth Street’s investors.

IOS is the leading independent provider of inspection and tubular integrity management services for the U.S. upstream oil and gas industry. IOS provides non-destructive testing, inspection, and other asset integrity services such as repair and threading for oil country tubular goods (OCTG) and drill tools.

During the three years Ninth Street was invested in IOS (in partnership with co-investor Calvert Street Capital Partners), “we helped recruit senior management talent to support long-term growth and completed several add-on acquisitions to expand the scope of services, accelerate geographic expansion, and add new customer relationships,” said Michael Weiner, Managing Partner at Ninth Street. Through investment in capital equipment, technology to improve reporting systems and customer interface, and improved operating processes, the Company maintained very attractive profit margins while nearly tripling in size.

“I enjoyed working with Ninth Street. They were thoughtful and supportive partners,” said Dal Miller, CEO at IOS. “Their detailed understanding of the day-to-day business operations as well as of our broader industry allowed them to provide support and guidance throughout our time working together.”

During Ninth Street’s ownership, IOS grew from a small inspection business with locations in Louisiana and Texas, to a diversified inspection and tubular integrity management services company with more than 20 locations serving the majority of onshore oil and gas producing regions in the U.S.  Today, IOS serves more than 500 customers, offering comprehensive turnkey inspection, testing, and related services.

“We are very proud of what the IOS team accomplished, and the strong working partnership we had with the Calvert Street team,” said Weiner. “The acquisition yielded a very attractive return to our investors.”

Harris Williams & Co. advised Calvert Street and Ninth Street on the sale of IOS.

About Ninth Street Capital Partners

Ninth Street Capital Partners is an investment firm located near Cleveland, Ohio that was founded in 2009 to make lead investments in smaller middle market companies. Ninth Street takes a hands-on operational approach coupled with comprehensive financial capabilities to focus on growing niche-leading companies with revenues of $5 million to $50 million and EBITDA of $2 million to $10 million. More information on Ninth Street may be found at its website, www.ninthstreetcapital.com.