Peak Lime
Peak Lime, Inc.
Fund: III
Investment Date: December 2001
Exit Date: August 2007
Headquarters: Birmingham, Alabama

Peak Lime, Inc. (“Peak Lime”), headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, manufactures lime (also known as quicklime) and hydrate lime (water added to form a slurry) and distributes it throughout the southeastern United States. Lime is a widely-used industrial material with applications in steel manufacturing, chemical production, utilities (for flue gas desulfurization), construction, water treatment, and acid neutralization. Peak Lime’s state-of-the-art manufacturing plant is capable of producing approximately 430,000 tons of quicklime annually, with current environmental permits to produce 395,000 tons per year.

The acquisition of Peak Lime was led by Peak Investments, LLC, a firm with a history of acquiring “orphan” chemical operations and improving operating results through a combination of focused management, expense control, improved capital allocation and asset utilization. Merit provided subordinated debt and preferred stock to finance the acquisition.