Pfingsten has acquired family-owned Fowler High Precision, a manufacturer and distributor of inspection, control, and calibration equipment.
Fowler is a provider of dimensional metrology (the science of measurement) equipment and related repair and calibration services to customers across the aerospace, medical, automotive and general industrial markets. Fowler’s extensive inventory of products includes micrometers, calipers, depth gauges, bore gauges, height gauges, levels and protractors.
Fowler, led by CEO Dave Francis, was founded in 1946 and is headquartered south of Boston in Canton, Massachusetts with an additional distribution and calibration facility near Los Angeles in Valencia, California.
Pfingsten invested in Fowler in partnership with its CEO Dave Francis. “We’re thrilled to partner with Pfingsten and to take Fowler to the next level,” said Mr. Francis. “Pfingsten’s operational resources, global capabilities, and conservative capital structure, along with a strong cultural fit will enable our business to rapidly scale in the coming years.”
“Fowler provides tremendous value to its customers through its product expertise and highly consultative approach to solving customer needs,” said Phillip Bronsteatter, a managing director at Pfingsten. “We look forward to supporting the company’s continued growth by adding new categories of metrology systems and expanding Fowler’s equipment calibration and repair services both organically and through add-on acquisitions.”
The acquisition of Fowler is the fourteenth platform investment for Pfingsten’s $382 million fifth fund which closed in March 2016.
Chicago-based Pfingsten invests in middle-market manufacturing, distribution, and business services companies that have transaction values ranging from $15 million to $100 million, revenues from $20 million to $150 million, and EBITDA between $3 million and $12 million. Since completing its first investment in 1991, Pfingsten has acquired 159 such companies through five funds with total commitments of $1.3 billion.
Bigelow was the financial advisor to Fowler on this transaction.
© 2022 Private Equity Professional | September 9, 2022
