Electrical Components International, a portfolio company of KPS Capital Partners, has agreed to acquire Whitepath Fab Tech, a maker of control boxes and wire harnesses, and a provider of assembly services to the HVAC industry.
Whitepath manufactures both control boxes and the wire harnesses that are incorporated into the box to provide electronic functionality. The assembled panels range from small and simple to very large and complex panels that have hundreds of model numbers. Whitepath has long standing relationships with many of the largest commercial HVAC OEMs in the United States. The company operates five manufacturing facilities – four located in Georgia and one located in Saltillo, Mexico – and has approximately 260 employees. The company was founded in 1989 and is based in 80 miles north of Atlanta in Ellijay, GA (www.whitepath.com).
Electrical Components International (ECI) is a manufacturer and marketer of wire harnesses and provider of assembly services for the home appliance industry and other end markets. ECI has over 850 customers globally and its products can be found in a variety of electronic and electro-mechanical applications, including home appliances; agriculture and construction; HVAC; specialty transportation; automotive; commercial appliance; and commercial electronics. ECI was founded in the 1950s and is headquartered in St. Louis with 13 manufacturing facilities in seven countries. The company has over 15,000 employees worldwide (www.ecintl.com).
ECI was acquired by KPS Capital Partners in May 2014. “We are very excited about the progress that ECI has made under KPS ownership, with the company generating record profits in 2015,” said Raquel Palmer, a partner at KPS. “The strategic and industrial logic of ECI acquiring Whitepath is compelling, as it allows ECI to expand its presence in specialty-industrial end-markets and leveraged its quality, service and product development capabilities to enhance Whitepath’s operations.”
KPS Capital Partners is the manager of the KPS Special Situations Funds, a group of private equity funds with approximately $5.6 billion of assets under management that invests in restructurings, turnarounds and other special situations. KPS targets manufacturing and industrial companies that are going through a period of transition or experiencing operating or financial difficulties. The firm’s portfolio companies have aggregate annual revenues of approximately $6 billion, operate 98 manufacturing plants in 23 countries, and employ over 42,000 people worldwide. KPS Capital Partners is headquartered in New York (www.kpsfund.com).
KPS will continue to grow ECI both organically and through acquisitions in both North America and around the world. “The acquisition of Whitepath is an important step in ECI’s continued expansion and diversification. This buy allows ECI to expand relationships with key specialty-industrial customers, cross sell products into new geographies and product segments and expand into new markets,” said David Webster, Chief Executive Officer of ECI.
Financing for the transaction will be provided by a syndicate of banks and institutional investors with BofA Merrill Lynch (www.baml.com) acting as the lead arranger.
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison (www.paulweiss.com) is serving as legal counsel to KPS and ECI.
© 2016 Private Equity Professional • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 5-18-16
