Palladium Equity Partners, L.L.C. Acquires ALC Schools, LLC and Red Rock Technology, LLC
New York and San Clemente, CA, March 2, 2020 – Palladium Equity Partners, L.L.C. (along with its affiliates, “Palladium”), a middle market private equity firm with approximately $3 billion in assets under management, today announced that one of its affiliated private equity funds has acquired ALC Schools, LLC and Red Rock Technology, LLC (combined, “ALC” or the “Company”), a mission-driven provider of alternative transportation solutions to school districts in the United States, from affiliates of American Logistics, LLC.
ALC offers alternative student transportation solutions for a variety of student populations, including special education, homeless, foster and other in-need students. The Company leverages a proprietary, technology-enabled platform to optimize transportation for school districts across the U.S. ALC has offices and operations centers strategically located in San Clemente, California, Colorado Springs, Colorado, St. George, Utah and Raleigh, North Carolina.
“ALC is deeply mission-driven and provides a critical service to the communities in which it operates by coordinating safe and reliable transportation to students with special needs,” said Dean Holland, an experienced executive who has been named Executive Chairman of ALC. “The passion and commitment this organization demonstrates to continuously provide excellent service levels and exceed customer expectations is truly a differentiating factor and gives me great confidence in its ability to broaden its reach dramatically while not losing sight of the population it currently serves.”
“We are delighted to invest in this great entrepreneurial company that addresses transportation and safety concerns of school districts serving special needs children by applying leading technology solutions. This investment reflects the confluence of several themes that Palladium has invested behind, including non-emergency medical transport, logistics, and healthcare as well as a continuation of our partnership with Dean, with whom we have worked and invested alongside for over 15 years,” said Alex Funk, a Principal at Palladium. “We are excited to be partnering with the ALC team whose passion to help an at-risk student population is clearly felt in the culture of the successful business they have built. We hope to work with ALC to expand existing relationships with school districts, launch in new states, develop and market new solutions and continue to grow and benefit from strong industry tailwinds, while staying true to their mission of helping the school children most in need.”
Gregg Prettyman, the Chief Operating Officer of ALC, said: “We are excited to partner with Palladium during our next phase of growth. We see significant opportunity to expand ALC’s role in helping districts serve their special needs student populations with dependable, efficient and cost-effective transportation solutions.” Megan Carey, the Chief Revenue Officer of the Company, added: “We look forward to introducing our technology-enabled solutions to new states and districts, while continuing to provide high-quality service to our existing customers.”
Intrepid Investment Bankers LLC served as financial advisor to ALC on the transaction. Morgan Lewis served as ALC’s legal advisors. BlackArch served as financial advisor for Palladium. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP served as the legal advisor for Palladium. Morrison & Foerster served as financing counsel for Palladium.
The transaction terms were not disclosed.
About ALC Schools, LLC
Based in San Clemente, CA, ALC is a pioneer and leader in alternative student transportation. ALC’s transportation solutions ease school districts’ transportation challenges by providing an exceptional level of safety and consistency for their most vulnerable students. Each day, ALC coordinates transportation for thousands of students across the country, including special needs, foster, displaced and out of district students. With field support offices nationwide, student monitoring and tracking teams and routing and optimization technology, ALC provides student transportation solutions that meet and exceed state and district student transportation requirements. ALC’s technology solutions are driven by Red Rock Technology, LLC, a proprietary technology platform. For more information on ALC Schools, LLC, please visit www.alcschools.com.
About Palladium Equity Partners, L.L.C.
Palladium is a middle market private equity firm with approximately $3 billion in assets under management. The firm seeks to acquire and grow companies in partnership with founders and experienced management teams by providing capital, strategic guidance and operational oversight. Since its founding in 1997, Palladium has made 35 platform investments and over 135 add-on acquisitions. For more information on Palladium, please visit www.palladiumequity.com.
Media Contact for Palladium Equity Partners, L.L.C.:
Todd Fogarty, Kekst CNC, todd.fogarty@kekstcnc.com, 212-521-4854