Stout Advises on Sale of RPB Safety to GVS NA Holdings Inc

September 07, 2021

Stout announced today that its client, RPB Safety (“RPB”, “The Respiratory Protection Brand”) has been acquired by GVS NA Holdings Inc., a subsidiary of GVS S.p.A (BIT: GVS) ("GVS"). Stout served as exclusive financial advisor to RPB in connection with this transaction.

GVS S.p.A is publicly traded on the Milan Stock Exchange and is a leading global provider of advanced filtration solutions for highly critical applications in healthcare, life sciences, energy, mobility, and the health and industrial safety sectors.

Founded in 1970 and headquartered in Royal Oak MI, RPB is a rapidly growing manufacturer of personal respiratory protection equipment, including supplied air and powered air purifying respirators, that is designed and engineered to protect the American workforce for life’s best moments.

“We are thrilled that we were able to identify the ideal partner in GVS and were impressed with the breadth of Stout’s global relationships with prospective buyers and how it unlocked value for our company. Stout also really understood how to position our company and provided excellent guidance in navigating and negotiating the transaction terms and managing due diligence,” said Garth Ivory, CEO of RPB.

“The Ivory Family and RPB have compiled an impressive growth track record and built a very successful company, despite having only moved operations to the U.S. in 2013,” said Stout Managing Director and Head of Healthcare Investment Banking, John Calcagnini, who led the transaction. “Garth, Kurt Ivory and Tom Allison were a pleasure to work with and the transaction is incredibly complementary to each side as the strong market and brand positioning of RPB in powered air purifying respirators will give GVS and its filtration products entre to the North American industrial safety and healthcare markets, while GVS’ European and Asia distribution channels will open up very significant new geographic growth opportunities for the RPB family of products.”

Stout’s Michael Brocious and Alec Wittenberg assisted in executing the deal.

Butzel Long served as legal counsel to RPB. Ice Miller served as legal counsel to GVS.

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