Cook & Boardman

Cook & Boardman (C&B) is a leading specialty distributor of commercial doors, frames & hardware, electronic access control equipment and specialty (Division 10) products. Cook & Boardman is also one of the nation's largest and fastest growing providers of integrated security solutions – including physical security, access control, wireless networking, low voltage cabling, audio/visual and managed information technology products.

Cook & Boardman serves non-residential and multi-family markets including the commercial, education, government, healthcare, office and hospitality sectors from more than 70 locations across 23 states nationwide. 

First Institutional Capital

Partnered with an entrepreneur-owned business with significant value creation potential. We were introduced by a local management team that we knew well and had previously backed in the Pleasants Hardware investment.

M&A

Industry consolidation was a key component to Cook & Boardman’s efforts to increase operational efficiency and to access new markets. Management and Blue Point evaluated dozens of target acquisitions to scale the business while expanding into geographies with attractive growth demographics. These efforts resulted in the completion of three accretive acquisitions – Stock CDH, Exactitude and CS Door. These acquisitions expanded C&B fourfold, increasing the number of branch locations, extending operations into several additional states and creating meaningful market leverage with vendors and customers – ultimately becoming the largest company in the market by 2x.

Operational, Business Infrastructure Improvements  

In partnership with Blue Point, Cook & Boardman consolidated key supplier programs and pricing terms across all regions. C&B improved market share in Core Regions as well as improved selling gross margin. Cook & Boardman created a Central Detailing & Estimating Group, established separate operating P&Ls for in‐house fabrication, modification and installation functions to better measure the associated costs. C&B implemented a standard best practice of pre‐submittal job margin reviews and a new IT System across all branches. Prior to exit, Cook & Boardman remained focused on investing in hardware and network bandwidth to improve speed, efficiency and sharing of information and best practice.