KPS Capital Partners has entered into an agreement to acquire Electrical Components International, a manufacturer of wire harnesses and assembly services. Completion of the transaction is expected during the second quarter of 2014.
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 800 customers globally and its products can be found in a variety of electronic and electro-mechanical applications, including home appliances, agriculture and construction, heating, ventilation and air conditioning, specialty transportation, automotive, commercial appliance, and commercial electronics. ECI was founded in the 1950s and is headquartered in St. Louis with 12 manufacturing facilities, 14 distribution centers and sales and engineering offices located in North America, South America, Asia, Europe and Africa. The company has over 12,000 employees worldwide (www.ecintl.com).
“Electrical Components International has an industry-leading reputation for quality, service and product development, with a strategic global manufacturing footprint. We intend to aggressively grow the ECI platform both organically and through acquisitions by continuing to support ECI’s strength in North America and Europe and providing additional capital to pursue growth initiatives in key emerging markets such as South America and Asia,” said Raquel Palmer, a Partner of KPS.
KPS Capital Partners is the manager of the KPS Special Situations Funds, a group of private equity funds with over $6 billion of committed capital focused on investing in restructurings, turnarounds and other special situations. The KPS investment strategy targets manufacturing and industrial companies with strong market positions 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 $7 billion, operate 93 manufacturing plants in 26 countries, and employ over 37,000 associates worldwide. KPS Capital Partners is headquartered in New York (www.kpsfund.com).
Financing for the transaction will be provided by a syndicate of banks and institutional investors with BofA Merrill Lynch, GE Capital Markets, and Fifth Third Bank acting as Lead Arrangers.
“The entire ECI team is excited to partner with KPS with which we share an identical culture and formula for business success. We are both committed to achieving total customer satisfaction, pursuing manufacturing excellence and driving continuous improvement,” said David Webster, Chief Executive Officer of ECI. “Over the last five years, our success formula has allowed us to double our customer base and extend both our geographic reach and markets served. Our ability to drive both organic and inorganic growth will be greatly enhanced by KPS’ ownership. We look forward to continuing to be the wire harness and value-added assembly services provider of choice while delivering industry-leading quality, service and innovation to our global customer base.”
© 2014 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 4-10-14
