Chattanooga-based PlayCore acquires Fountain People

photo Bob Farnsworth is president and CEO of Playcore

Chattanooga-based PlayCore Holdings, a designer and maker of playground and recreation products and services, has purchased a company that makes architectural and interactive fountain equipment and systems.

Fountain People Inc. was founded in 1987, and its aquatic playground division, Water Odyssey, was established in 1996 to provide the market with quality aquatic playground equipment, according to PlayCore.

Day-to-day operations will be from Fountain People's office and manufacturing facility in San Marcos, Texas, and it will continue to be managed by current President Jerry Elbel.

Bob Farnsworth, PlayCore's chief executive, said the addition of Fountain People and Water Odyssey to PlayCore's brands increases its product offering of architectural aesthetic fountain solutions to commercial, recreation, and themed entertainment environments.

"This expansion of our commitment to the aquatics industry is an important new opportunity for PlayCore," he said.

Elbel said PlayCore's commitment to quality, innovation and excellence blends with the core values that Fountain People and Water Odyssey were built on.

"We look forward to expanding their industry leading product lines as well as our capabilities in support of our distribution channels," he said.

PlayCore employs about 110 people in Chattanooga and 350 at a manufacturing location in Fort Payne, Ala.

Earlier this year, New York City-based Sentinel Capital Partners, a private equity firm focusing on middle market investments, bought PlayCore. The company was previously owned by another private equity firm, Irving Place Capital, for the past seven years.

Employing 850 people countrywide, PlayCore has broadened the business by buying companies that make grandstands and bleachers, timing and scoring systems for athletic venues and bike storage systems.

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