From modest offices next to a factory in an industrial park, Anaheim-based Unique Partners LLC doesn’t look like anything spectacular. But the acquisition and management firm’s $40 million, 12-company portfolio has returned $85 million in the past six years.
“And we still have companies to sell,” said Scott Hartman, a Unique founder and principal.
Unique’s internal rate of return so far has been 39.5% per year since 1994. With all the money in its Unique Growth Capital Partners I fund invested, the firm is looking to raise $125 million “to do more of the same,” Hartman said.
Unique invests in small manufacturers or service companies in the western U.S. Target businesses have annual revenue of $15 million to $50 million and the prospect of a 30% return on equity for Unique.
“We want to be the Warren Buffets of small business,” Hartman said.
In its current portfolio, Unique still has six companies under management. They include Fountain Valley-based Pacific Alternator & Starter Inc., a remanufacturer of alternators and starters, Orange-based Performance Powder Inc., a powder-coating company, and Anaheim-based Unique Manufacturing Corp., a sheet metal producer.
The company has divested stakes in Santa Ana-based electronics manufacturer Cal Quality Electronics Inc. and Santa Ana-based mail sorter Master-Sort Inc., among others.
Unique looks to invest about $10 million per deal, Hartman said. With the new fund, the firm plans to acquire six to nine companies and add another four to seven to add to the initial acquisitions. n
