Case Study: Kissel Capital Acquires Safety BOSS Inc.

“Safety Boss was attractive because of its location, the team’s strong desire to own equity, its high growth potential, and finally, a shared corporate value system that focused on integrity in all things.”

Luke Phenicie, Founding Partner, Kissel Capital

Axial Members

Member Type	Independent Sponsor	M&A Advisory Firm
Axial Member Since	2022	2016
Headquarters	Zionsville, IN	Edmonton, AB (Canada)
Axial Closed Deals	1	1
Axial Profile	View Profile	View Profile

Acquired Business

Description: Since 1956, Safety BOSS Inc. has evolved from a one-truck fire company into an international fleet of safety, loss prevention, and emergency response equipment led by the industry’s top safety professionals. The business has controlled some of the largest blowouts and firefighting projects in the world.

Reason for exit: The owner of Safety Boss had successfully transitioned management oversight to a new internal team and had stepped away from the business for several years enjoying retirement. He decided to put the Company up for sale with hopes of finding a financial partner who could assist the current team in a management-led buyout where they too could become material owners in the business, and also to assist in buying the majority of his shares for estate and retirement purposes, while maintaining a small equity stake into the future.

Website  |  LinkedIn

Kissel Capital, based in Zionsville, IN is a sub-five-person Independent Sponsor focused on management recapitalizations in the industrial sector. Founding Partner Luke Phenicie joined Axial in Q4 of 2022 to help the firm source deals for their niche strategy.

In early 2023, Sequeira Capital was engaged by Safety BOSS Inc. to find the right investment partner. In May, Sequiera created an Axial project for Safety Boss, ultimately finding Kissel Capital, who had been an Axial member for less than a year at that point. 

In this transaction, which ultimately closed in November 2023, Safety Boss owner Mike Miller sold controlling shares of the business to key long-term employees and partnered with the Kissell team, ensuring that Safety Boss’ growth strategies were secured for a solid future.

Luke Phenicie, a founding partner of Kissel, lives by the philosophy “We’re investors, not operators,” so Safety Boss will continue operations as usual, though now with the support and industry insights of their new partners.

Deal Data