PROtect Welcomes Sterling Investment Partners as Lead Investor, Signaling Next Phase of Growth and Innovation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 12, 2024
Wichita, KS – PROtect, LLC (“PROtect” or the “Company”), a leader in safety, reliability, and compliance services, announced today that Sterling Investment Partners (“Sterling”) has acquired a controlling equity interest in the company. PROtect’s management and employees will retain significant minority ownership, ensuring the continuity of its strong, customer-focused culture and mission.
Founded in 2007 in Wichita, KS, PROtect has been dedicated to reducing operational safety, reliability, and compliance risks across all industries. With a focus on minimizing potential impacts such as employee injury, property damage, liability, unplanned downtime, and regulatory non-compliance, PROtect supports industries critical to the U.S. economy, including chemical, food and beverage, midstream energy, pharmaceutical, power generation, refining, and renewables. Led by CEO Nathan VanderGriend, PROtect has grown significantly organically and via strategic acquisitions, expanding its reach, and fostering a team of over 550 skilled professionals nationwide. PROtect offers a full suite of services to help safeguard people, equipment, communities, and the environment, while achieving compliance and maintaining operational reliability. PROtect, with a strong focus on customer-centered service, is also widely recognized for its proprietary software solutions, designed by industry experts to manage data, track deadlines, and streamline corrective actions—ensuring dependable, high-quality support making them noticeably different.
Joe Gault and Mike Barr, Partners at Sterling Investment Partners, shared their excitement about the new partnership with PROtect: “Safety, reliability, and compliance are essential to PROtect’s customers, and the company has consistently proven itself as a leading enterprise-level risk management partner. With a strong culture, unique service delivery model, and impressive growth potential, we look forward to working with Nathan and the PROtect team to deliver lasting value to customers, employees, and stakeholders alike.”
Reflecting on the transition, Nathan VanderGriend, Founder and CEO of PROtect, expressed enthusiasm for the new partnership. “Over the past six years, Spire Capital Partners has been an outstanding partner, supporting our growth and helping us reach where we are today. We’re looking forward to this next chapter with Sterling, whose successful track record in guiding service companies like ours brings a strategic advantage. From our first meeting, the Sterling team and I recognized a mutual interest and cultural fit, and we are confident this partnership will be highly beneficial for our customers, team members, and shareholders.”
Media Contact:
Nathan VanderGriend, Chief Executive Officer
Direct: (316) 927-4294
Email: Nathan.VanderGriend@protect.llc
About PROtect, LLC: PROtect is a leading provider of safety, reliability and compliance, serving companies in several essential industries including chemical, food & beverage, midstream energy, pharmaceutical, power generation, refining, and renewables. PROtect provides a range of services all centered around helping our customers manage operational risks, including advanced and conventional non-destructive testing (NDT), mechanical integrity, pipeline integrity, environmental, industrial hygiene, safety, process safety engineering, rope access and leak detection and repair, and benzene waste operations. PROtect is a team of highly trained, certified, and experienced professionals who are strategically located to efficiently serve our customers with a noticeably different commitment to partnership and service delivery.
About Sterling Investment Partners: Sterling Investment Partners is a private equity firm with over 30 years of experience investing in middle-market companies. Sterling focuses on value-added distribution and business services, targeting companies with sustainable competitive advantages and significant growth potential. To date, Sterling has completed over 240 transactions with an approximate value of $30 billion. For more information, visit www.sterlinglp.com.
About Spire Capital Partners: Spire Capital Partners is a private equity firm specializing in small-market companies in technology-enabled business services, media, communications, and education. Spire partners with management teams to help accelerate growth and strategic direction. For more information, visit www.spirecapital.com.