Kanawha Tips the Scale with Strack Acquisition

Kanawha Scales & Systems, a provider of industrial scale calibration and repair services and a portfolio company of Investcorp, has acquired Strack Scale Service.

Strack Scale calibrates, installs, and maintains industrial weighing equipment, serving manufacturers and industrial operators across the Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana tri-state region. The company’s work spans a range of industries, built around on-site inspection, testing, and preventative maintenance programs that include support for International Organization for Standardization (ISO) audit requirements.

Source: Strack Scale ServiceStrack Scale is headquartered near Cincinnati in Harrison, Ohio.

West Virginia-based Kanawha Scales & Systems (KSS) provides calibration, maintenance, and repair services for industrial weighing systems and automated control equipment across the U.S. The company operates a network of service branches across the Midwest, Northeast, and Southern U.S. and supplies weighing, batching, and automated loadout systems for industrial customers.

The acquisition of Strack Scale expands KSS’s network to 28 branches nationwide. KSS, led by CEO Chris Carsten, was founded in 1954 and is headquartered near Charleston in Poca, West Virginia.

Rotunda Capital Partners acquired KSS in 2022, adding it on as a division to American Equipment Solutions (AES), another Rotunda platform. KSS completed three acquisitions in 2023—Memphis Scale Works, American Scale Company, and American Welding Service—followed by Velcon Filling Systems in 2024. AES then sold the KSS division to Investcorp in November 2025, with KSS’s management retaining an equity stake alongside its new sponsor. Investcorp acquired KSS through its North American Private Equity Fund I LP, which closed in February 2023 with $1.2 billion of capital. In May 2026, KSS launched an employee ownership plan (EOP) that granted equity to full-time workers with at least one year of service. According to KSS, its EOP is the first of its kind in the scales and weighing industry.

“The Strack Scale team has built exactly the kind of business we look to partner with – highly trained technicians, deep customer relationships, and an unwavering commitment to quality and service,” said Mr. Carsten. “We’re proud to welcome them to our platform and to extend our Employee Ownership Plan to their team, so that everyone who helped build Strack Scale can share in what we build together.”

Investcorp is active in alternative investments, including private equity, real estate, absolute return investments, and credit management. Since its founding in 1982, Investcorp has closed more than 200 private equity transactions across a range of sectors, including retail and consumer products, technology, business services, and industrials. Its North America private equity group has invested in North American middle-market businesses for more than 40 years, completing more than 75 transactions and deploying more than $22 billion in transaction value since inception. Investcorp, with $62 billion of assets under management, has more than 500 employees and multiple offices, including in New York City, London, and Bahrain.