Dominus Sells Cincinnati Fan to SPX
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Dominus Sells Cincinnati Fan to SPX

Cincinnati Fan’s niche-engineered products are a fit with SPX's HVAC cooling business and is the company's tenth acquisition since 2018

The company's industrial fans use thick material gauges, larger shafts, long-life bearings, high-temperature features, and corrosion-resistant materials

SOURCE: Cincinnati Fan

Dominus Capital has agreed to sell Cincinnati Fan & Ventilator to publicly traded SPX Corporation.

Cincinnati Fan is a manufacturer of built-to-order and customized industrial fans including centrifugal fans and blowers, axial fans, portable fume exhausters, exhausts systems, and high-temperature fans. As compared to commercial or HVAC fans, industrial fans use thicker material gauges, larger shafts, bearings with increased bearing life, high-temperature features, and corrosion-resistant materials.

Cincinnati Fan specializes in cast aluminum and fabricated steel, aluminum, and stainless steel fans in the 1/4 to 125 horsepower range. The company, led by CEO Paul Burton with 215 employees in the US and the UK, was founded in 1956 and is headquartered near Cincinnati in Mason, Ohio. Mr. Burton will continue to lead Cincinnati Fan following the close of the sale to SPX.

“Dominus has been an excellent partner for Cincinnati Fan,” said Mr. Burton. “Dominus supported our growth with strong industry expertise and capital. We completed and integrated two strategic acquisitions and successfully launched new products to deliver more solutions to our customers. Dominus allowed us to maintain our core Cincinnati Fan DNA while providing the resources to accelerate our growth story.”

The two add-ons completed by Cincinnati Fan under Dominus ownership included Strobic Air, a Pennsylvania-based manufacturer of fume exhaust systems, in March 2018; and Daniels Fan, a UK-based designer and manufacturer of large, high-temperature industrial fans, in November 2015.

“Cincinnati Fan has become a leading player in the air movement space,” said Bob Haswell, a founding partner of Dominus. “Dominus was able to bring significant resources to professionalize the business and grow both organically and through acquisition. We completed two acquisitions, expanded capacity, and invested in new product development under our ownership. Paul, management, and the company are very well positioned to drive growth for SPX and its investors.”

SPX Corporation (NYSE: SPXC) is a supplier of infrastructure equipment and technologies used in the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC); detection and measurement; power transmission and generation sectors. The company’s products include cooling towers and boilers, underground pipe and cable locators, power transformers, and heat exchangers. SPX, led by CEO Gene Lowe, has annual revenues of more than $1.5 billion and is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“Cincinnati Fan’s well-known brand and attractive niche-engineered products are a strong fit with our global HVAC cooling business, where we already share some common distribution in the US,” said Mr. Lowe. “We see multiple opportunities to create additional value, and accelerate our combined growth, by leveraging Cincinnati Fan’s technical expertise in engineered air movement across our US and global cooling platforms.”

Founded in 2008, New York-based Dominus Capital makes control equity investments in North American-based middle market companies that have EBITDA from $5 million to $30 million. Sectors of interest include business services, consumer products and services, and light industrial.

William Blair is the financial advisor to Cincinnati Fan on this transaction, which is expected to close by the end of the year, and BlackArch Partners is advising SPX.

© 2021 Private Equity Professional | November 16, 2021

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