News September 29, 2022
JAL Equity Acquires Eagle Products
JAL’s acquisition of the Kansas City, KS-based apparel decorator adds to the Florida-based firm’s portfolio of print and promo products companies.
JAL Equity, a Sarasota, FL-based firm with a portfolio of companies that operate in the printing, signage, promotional product and e-commerce markets, has acquired Kansas City, KS-headquartered apparel decorator Eagle Products. Financial terms of the deal were not released.
Eagle Products is the go-to-market name of D. Rockey Holdings Inc., which was owned solely by Dave Rockey prior to the acquisition. Going forward, Rockey will continue as president of Eagle Products, which has been in business since 1966. The company specializes in decorated apparel solutions for the souvenir, gift and resort end-markets, executives said.
“We are excited to add Eagle Products and Dave Rockey to our Tshirts.com portfolio company,” said Eran Salu, managing director of JAL Equity. Salu added that the combination of the Eagle Products operation and JAL’s e-commerce platform will “allow us to offer our customers an expanded product offering and stronger manufacturing and delivery capabilities.”
JAL Equity shared that it has acquired more than 35 companies since the firm’s founding in 2008. Its current portfolio includes promo distributors like Logos@Work and Master Promotions by Credeurs. Salu has worked in the acquisition business for over 25 years and has executed over $20 billion in transaction value as an advisor and/or principal.
After a quiet period during the COVID-19 pandemic, mergers and acquisitions have picked up pace in the promo products industry.
For instance, Los Angeles-based supplier A4 (asi/30121) recently announced that it has acquired LabFit Apparel. Shortly before that deal, Minnesota-based The Occasions Group acquired the assets of Greenville, NC-headquartered supplier Accu Copy (asi/30490).
There’s also been notable M&A in promo internationally, with two prominent Sweden-based distributors merging and New Wave Group, a firm whose subsidiaries include Top 40 supplier Cutter & Buck (asi/47965) and Massachusetts-based supplier Ahead (asi/33220) among others, acquiring BTC Activewear Limited, a supplier of promo, corporate and team apparel in Birmingham, U.K.