Houston, TX – April 2024 – Thorpe Specialty Services (“Thorpe” or the “Company”), a leading maintenance and engineering services and solutions provider for corrosion, refractory, and scaffolding & insulation, announced that it has acquired Walburn Industrial Services, LLC (“Walburn”) of McCalla, AL. Walburn provides specialty refractory services to the lime & mineral, cement, steel, and other industrial and infrastructure end markets. The combined companies will exceed 1,300 team members, including over 1,000 skilled field personnel across its five regional branches operating across the Gulf Coast, Southeast, Midwest, and Canada. The acquisition of Walburn provides expansion within a strategic geographic market segment, further diversifies Thorpe’s customer base, and adds capacity to Thorpe’s field crews to service its customers’ growing demand. This acquisition will also provide the existing Walburn customer base with additional resources and access to complementary capabilities such as technical services, design services, specialized and demolition equipment.
“This partnership brings together two exceptional refractory companies with common cultures and best-in-class customer service. Wade & Rong Walburn have built a great company in our industry, their unique capabilities fit well strategically with our vision, and their reputation for delivering safe and high-quality craftsmanship match up perfectly with what we deliver to our customers every day,” said Chad Fletcher, CEO of Thorpe. “We are excited to welcome the Walburn’s, and their entire team, into our Thorpe family and we look forward to working with their team as we build something truly special here.”
Rong Walburn, President of Walburn, added, “We are excited to join the Thorpe team and believe this is the right next step for our family’s company and our people. This partnership provides us with the opportunity to further expand in our markets and with Thorpe’s existing operational infrastructure, we will be able to better serve our customers.“
In August 2022, KLH Capital partnered with Thorpe Specialty Services to recapitalize and continue the growth path of the Company. “Thorpe’s acquisition of Walburn is an exciting next step for the business. The combination of the Thorpe and Walburn not only bolsters the Company’s presence in an attractive, growing market, but allows the consolidated business to further expand its variety of critical service offerings, ensuring all of the needs of its customers are met,” said James Darnell, Managing Partner at KLH Capital.
For more information about this transaction, please contact James Darnell (jdarnell@klhcapital.com).
ABOUT THORPE SPECIALTY SERVICES
Headquartered in Houston, TX, Thorpe is a leading provider of industrial specialty services to the chemical, petrochemical, power, natural resources (lime), pulp & paper, metals & mining, and other industrial and infrastructure end markets across the United States and Canada. With more than 1,250 skilled employees and a top-tier safety record, Thorpe leverages its in-house engineering capabilities to be a trusted provider of reoccurring corrosion, refractory, scaffolding & insulation services and custom fabricated products for the maintenance of critical infrastructure assets operating within high-temperature, abrasive, caustic, acidic, and highly corrosive environments.
ABOUT WALBURN INDUSTRIAL SERVICES, LLC
Based in McCalla, AL, Walburn specializes in providing refractory services to the lime & mineral, cement, and steel markets. As a key service provider in its geographic footprint for over 40 years, Walburn has cultivated longstanding relationships with customers within its market, making it a go-to service provider for refractory services.
