A Chattanooga producer of manufactured stone has purchased a natural stone supplier in Dayton, Tennessee to expand its product line and leverage its distribution network to building distributors across the country.
Horizon Stone announced Tuesday that it bought Majestic Stone in Dayton from Alderman Holdings, a private equity firm which acquired Majestic Stone out of bankruptcy three years go and has since tripled sales and output from the Dayton quarry.
"This acquisition makes perfect sense for both companies and will deliver incredible benefits to the customers we serve," said Brent Large, CEO at Horizon Stone which he helped found in 2003. "Horizon Stone and Majestic Stone both operate from a customer-first point of view, our leadership teams share mutual respect and work well with one another, and this pairing will enable distributors of our products to know they are going to receive great product and service when choosing either Horizon's manufactured stone or Majestic's natural stone."
The purchase is the first for Horizon Stone, which Large helped develop from his experience with his family's Key-James Brick & Supply, which was sold in 2006. Horizon Stone has grown over the past 16 years to employ about 100 workers making manufactured stone at the company's 185,000-square-foot factory at 2515 East 43rd Street off of Rossville Boulevard in Chattanooga.
As part of the merger, Majestic Stone CEO Patrick Wells will become a partner in the combined company, although both companies will keep their existing brands and locations.
Terms of the sale were not announced, but company officials said the combination of the stone suppliers should help better serve the distributors which buy stone for home and commercial builders and expand the network of buyers.
"Horizon gives us 115 new distributors which now buy from Horizon and their experience and knowledge in the industry will be extraordinarily beneficial for us," Wells said.
David Zollinger started Majestic Stone in 1995 with a rock quarry on Dayton Mountain and sold its luxury stone through its Chattanooga Stone Center and Creative Stone Works before filing for bankruptcy in 2015. Alderman Holdings combined the business assets, launched a new operating company under the name Majestic Stone, and appointed Wells as the new CEO. The Dayton quarry has since grown to about 30 employees, Wells said.
"The Tennessee fieldstone and flagstone that Majestic sells is popular in our markets and I think we can drive Majestic to be as big as Horizon," Large said. "It's a great fit for both companies."
Large said over time he hopes to grow the business both organically and possibly through other acquisitions.
"We're always looking for ways to grow and ways to add to the product line and give our customers an even more varied one stop shop for stone," he said.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 757-6340.