Stock Building Supply’s former president and CEO joined with the giant dealer’s former COO to create Cornerstone Building Alliance, an investment firm seeking to take majority control of well-run building material distributors, manufacturers, and installers.
Raleigh, N.C.-based Cornerstone’s leadership features Fenton Hord, who led Stock during its huge growth phase but left before it was sold and reorganized under Chapter 11, and Steve Short, the dealer’s chief operating officer until 2011. Cornerstone will be a unit of Investors Management Corp., where Hord is a member of the board of directors. Short will serve as Cornerstone’s chief executive officer.
“Cornerstone targets companies with annual revenues of $10 million to more than $100 million, including one-step manufacturers, distributors and installers of dimensional lumber, engineered wood, roof and floor trusses, wall panels, sidings, windows, exterior doors and millwork, roofing, drywall, interior doors, and millwork, cabinets and countertops,” the company said in a news release. “Cornerstone expects to maintain local and regional brands, keep management teams in place, and offer a great deal of operating autonomy.”
But the statement also quoted Short as saying Cornerstone will require a majority position in the investments it makes even as it seeks to have management teams retain ownership in the company. “This allows our partners to financially participate in the recovery of the market and the success of the business,” he said. “It also encourages them to continue making the best long-term decisions.”
