Industrial Growth Partners (IGP), in partnership with management and certain outside investors, has acquired Sanders Industries. The transaction closed on May 30, 2014 and IGP’s investment was made through Industrial Growth Partners IV, LP.
Sanders, through its four divisions (Rubbercraft, Northern Engineering, Sanders Composites, and Fabritech) is a manufacturer of highly-engineered elastomeric tools used in large, composite structure manufacturing, in addition to elastomeric components for aerospace and defense OEM and MRO applications. Sanders’ products include elastomeric tooling, seals, gaskets, ablatives, EMI/RFI/thermal shielding products, encapsulated o-rings, and composite APU plenums and ducts. In addition to its primary facility in Long Beach, the company manufactures from production facilities in Sheffield, UK; Diego, CA; and Westchester, PA. Sanders was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Long Beach (www.sandersind.com).
“IGP’s familiarity with the aerospace and defense markets through its prior investments and the firm’s deep experience in the manufacturing sector made IGP an ideal equity partner for us,” said Larry O’Toole, CEO of Sanders. “The Sanders management team is excited about the opportunity to leverage IGP’s experience to strengthen our position in our core markets and pursue the numerous opportunities in our pipeline. We look forward to capitalizing on the resources this new relationship provides.”
Industrial Growth Partners provides equity capital to lower-middle market manufacturing and manufacturing services companies with revenues of $30 million to $100 million. The firm invests equity in a range of transactions involving a change of ownership, such as management buyouts, leveraged buyouts, corporate divestitures, recapitalizations and management buy-ins. The firm was founded in 1997 and is based in San Francisco (www.igpequity.com).
The purchase of Sanders creates a platform for the company to accelerate growth in its core commercial aerospace and defense markets and pursue selective acquisition opportunities. The acquisition is an ideal fit with IGP’s strategy of investing in niche engineered products companies with leading market shares and outstanding management teams.
2014 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 6-6-14
