American Capital Ltd. sold PHC Sharp Holdings Inc. to Beverly Hills-based investment manager Levine Lechtman Capital Partners on undisclosed terms.
PHC is the parent company of Pacific Handy Cutter Inc., a maker of cutting tools that was based in Costa Mesa when American Capital bought 78% of the company in 2007 for about $41 million, and later moved to Irvine.
American Capital, a publicly traded private equity firm in Bethesda, Md., said it “realized 1.8 times its investment” in Pacific Handy Cutter, or about 10% compounded annually, indicating a sale price of $74 million to $95 million.
Pacific Handy Cutter makes razors, safety knives and box cutters available through specialty sellers, including Grainger, and mass-market retailers, such as Walmart and Amazon.com.
