Snow Phipps Group has acquired Winchester Electronics, a portfolio company of Audax Private Equity.
Winchester is a designer and manufacturer of connectors and cable assemblies used in military; aerospace; medical; semiconductor; data infrastructure; test & measurement; and oil & gas applications. Company brand names include Bomar, Cadillac, Clements National, Continental, Kings, Source Technology, SRC Haverhill, SRI Hermetics, Tru and Winchester. The company, led by CEO Kevin Perhamus, was founded in 1941 and has operations in the United States, China, Mexico, and Malaysia and is headquartered near Stamford in South Norwalk, CT (www.winchesterelectronics.com).
Audax acquired Winchester in June 2006 and completed 11 add-on acquisitions during its ownership including: SRI Hermetics (Melbourne, FL) in November 2014; Bomar Interconnect Products (Ledgewood, NJ) in August of 2013; SRC Cables (Santa Rosa, CA) in October of 2013; Haverhill Cable and Manufacturing (Haverhill, MA) in November of 2013; TRU Corporation (Peabody, MA) in April 2014; and Source Technology (Houston, TX) in September 2014. Continental Connector Company (Hatfield, PA) in May of 2013; Clements National Company (Broadview, IL) in August of 2012; Electrical Specialty Products (Spartanburg, SC) in July of 2012; Kings Electronics Corporation (Rock Hill, SC) in May of 2007; and Advanced Interconnect (Franklin, MA) in April of 2007.
“Snow Phipps is excited to partner with Winchester’s management team to begin executing on a significant number of growth opportunities. The Winchester team has an impressive track record of executing their growth strategy both organically and through acquisitions, and we look forward to supporting the company as it continues to find additional ways to serve customers and expand its product offering,” said John Pless, a Partner at Snow Phipps.
Snow Phipps makes control investments in companies primarily located in North America with enterprise values ranging from $100 million to $500 million that require equity investments ranging from $40 million to $100 million. The firm has $1.5 billion of assets under management and was co-founded by Ian Snow and Ogden Phipps in April 2005. Snow Phipps is headquartered in New York (www.snowphipps.com).
With the closing of this acquisition, Snow Phipps Operating Partner Jay Twombly will join Winchester as the non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors. Mr. Twombly formerly served as Chairman of Snow Phipps’ portfolio company Boyd Corporation. Boyd – a maker of sealing systems used by large, multinational original equipment manufacturers – was sold to Genstar in April 2015.
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett (www.stblaw.com) was the legal counsel to Snow Phipps for this transaction. Lincoln International (www.lincolninternational.com) served as financial advisor to both Winchester and Audax. Kirkland & Ellis provided legal counsel to Winchester and Audax.
The Audax Group makes control investments of $10 million to $100 million in middle market companies with transaction values of $25 million to $500 million. Sectors of interest include industrial manufacturing; energy; outsourced industrial services; consumer products; healthcare devices and services; non-asset based logistics; technology; aerospace & defense; business services; and direct marketing. The firm was founded in 1999 and has offices in Boston, New York and Menlo Park (www.audaxgroup.com).
© 2016 Private Equity Professional • 7-12-16
