One Equity Partners (OEP), a New York-based middle-market private equity firm with offices in Chicago, Frankfurt, and Amsterdam, has agreed to acquire United WELD Holdings, the parent company of EPIC Piping and BendTec. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, EPIC is one of the largest privately-owned pipe fabrication and distribution companies in the world, with more than one million square feet of fabrication capacity across facilities in the United States and the Middle East. The company employs approximately 2,000 people and serves customers across the industrial, power, LNG, nuclear, and data center end markets. Its capabilities span pipe fabrication, structural pipe support, supply chain integration, and industrial blasting and coating. BendTec, the platform’s other operating company, rounds out the combined entity’s piping system capabilities.
EPIC manufactures highly customized and engineered piping systems that serve as prefabricated components for large-scale energy and industrial infrastructure projects. The company’s growth has been driven in part by a structural shift in how piping work is performed: fabrication has moved increasingly from field-based installation to in-shop prefabrication, where labor cost advantages and quality control enable faster project completion. EPIC has built the scale, certifications, and project execution capabilities to compete for the largest and most complex assignments in a fragmented market.
OEP’s investment thesis is tied to sustained investment in U.S. and global energy infrastructure — including LNG, power generation, nuclear, and the data center buildout driven by AI compute demand — all of which require significant procurement and fabrication of piping systems. OEP has completed more than 500 transactions since its founding in 2001, focusing on industrial, healthcare, and technology businesses in North America and Europe. The firm spun out of JPMorgan in 2015.
KEY QUOTES:
“EPIC is positioned to benefit from sustained infrastructure and energy investment, with differentiated fabrication, procurement, and on-time delivery capabilities supporting continued growth and market share gains in a fragmented industry. Pipe fabrication work has shifted from being predominantly field-based to in-house due to labor advantages enabling quicker completion of projects, and EPIC has emerged as a leader with the required scale, certifications, and execution capabilities to compete for large, complex projects.”
Ante Kusurin, Partner, One Equity Partners
“We’re pleased to have OEP as our partner, an investor with demonstrated industrials expertise and proven ability to scale specialized manufacturing, services, and distribution businesses like ours effectively. This is a great transaction for our business, as we’re supported by a firm who understands the dynamics of our industry.”
Remi Bonnecaze, Chief Executive Officer, EPIC Piping
