Stellus Capital Management, a provider of middle-market direct lending, provided senior debt financing in support of Aterian Investment Partners’ acquisition of ATCO Industries.

Founded in 1980 and headquartered in Sterling Heights, MI, ATCO is a provider of tech-enabled testing, measurement and quality containment services, primarily to the North American automotive market. ATCO’s services are critical to automakers’ products, quality and production-line uptime by ensuring that any potential issues are rapidly identified, quarantined and corrected. Through its reputation and more than 40 years of performance, ATCO has organically built its business and leveraged its robust technology platform to become a provider of choice for quality assurance in North America and continues to position itself with customers that are expected to be significant players in the transformation of cars into electric and next-generation vehicles.

“From quality inspection to engineering services, ATCO has been able to grow its position through its reputation, speed and execution,” Daniel Krasnow, principal at Aterian, said. “We are grateful for Stellus’ support in the financing of this transaction, and we look forward to a continued partnership and growth of the business.”

“We are thrilled for the opportunity to partner with Aterian through this investment,” Doug Bollermann, managing director at Stellus, said. “ATCO is a go-to provider serving a critical need in an increasingly complex supply chain, and we are excited to support the company in its next phase of growth.”