Fulcrum Building Group: Brand new and looking to grow

South Bay Lumber of Santa Rosa Beach, Fla., and Navarre Lumber of Navarre, Fla., are the first two companies of Fulcrum Building Group, which is described as a new, multi-brand operator of pro-focused lumberyards in the Florida Panhandle. And Fulcrum is looking to make more acquisitions.

Silver Canyon Group, a San Diego, Calif.-based private equity investment firm, formed Fulcrum Building Group to acquire a majority interest in South Bay Lumber Navarre Lumber July 1. The owners of South Bay, brothers John and Jay Pugh, and owner of Navarre, Bobby Killingsworth, are significant owners of Fulcrum and each business will continue to operate under its current management structure and brand name.

Tyndale Advisors, a wholly owned subsidiary of Orgill, has been engaged to provide management services. Craig Cowart of Tyndale will serve as CEO of Fulcrum and oversee strategy and growth.

“South Bay and Navarre both have impressive histories of success and by partnering with Fulcrum, we can provide immediate benefits for the owners, our local teams and the customers they serve,” said Cowart.

The move draws easy comparisons to Tyndale Advisors' venture with the Central Network Retail Group.  CNRG has successfully served as a similar platform, and in less than 10 years has grown to 104 hardware stores, home centers and lumberyards in 14 states. CNRG is wholly owned by Tyndale Advisors, a subsidiary of Orgill, Inc. However, neither Orgill nor Tyndale have an ownership stake in Fulcrum.

Killingsworth, owner of Navarre since 1990, said “One of my biggest concerns with any potential sale of the business was to find partners with the same goals. Fulcrum’s long-term focus matches my desire to take care of our customers and associates in the best way possible.” South Bay’s president, John Pugh, shared “Jay and I are very excited to see the combination of these two great companies, and we couldn’t be happier with the partnership with Silver Canyon and our great friend Bobby.”

Tim Kelleher, managing partner of Silver Canyon added: “We have waited for the right opportunity to invest in the building and home improvement sector and look forward to working collaboratively with the Pughs and Bobby to strengthen the businesses under the new Fulcrum platform and to make selective add-on acquisitions."

With investments totaling more than $1 billion in 50 companies, Silver Canyon is a growth-focused private equity investment firm with 28-years of experience solving the challenges of growth and scale of lower-middle market family-owned businesses.