Why This Matters to Distributors: The acquisition gives Broadwing Capital a foundation for building a specialty distribution business serving self-storage and parcel shipping operators. Supply Side’s leadership plans to expand into new markets and product lines, although the announcement did not detail those plans.
Broadwing Capital has acquired Supply Side, a Cleveland-based distributor of packaging materials and hardware, as the first investment in a new specialty distribution business. The Dallas-based private equity firm announced the acquisition Nov. 10 without disclosing financial terms.
Supply Side serves more than 30,000 locations across the United States and Canada, according to the announcement. It supplies self-storage and parcel shipping operators with boxes, tape, bubble wrap, locks and other products, and designs and stocks retail supply displays for their facilities.
Ansir Junaid will remain chief executive officer alongside the existing management team and retain an investment in the company. He acquired Supply Side in 2008 after working with the distributor as a sourcing and logistics partner.
Under Junaid’s ownership, Supply Side expanded its self-storage business and developed the infrastructure to serve national customers in the United States and Canada, Broadwing said. The announcement did not disclose Supply Side’s sales or the size of Junaid’s continuing ownership stake.
“With Broadwing’s strategic depth and discipline behind us, our team is ready to grow Supply Side into new markets and product lines,” Junaid said.
Broadwing co-founder and managing partner Eliot Kerlin Jr. cited Supply Side’s management team, market position, and growth opportunities as reasons for the investment. He said the company would become the foundation for the firm’s specialty distribution business.
Founded in 1960, Supply Side serves customers ranging from individual storage facilities to regional retail chains and national brands. Its retail displays allow those operators to offer moving, storage, and shipping supplies at their locations.
Broadwing, founded in 2022, said it has raised more than $730 million in committed capital and completed 26 acquisitions. The firm specializes in manufacturing and services investments.
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