Baird Capital has acquired Kason Corporation, a manufacturer of industrial filtration and separation processors.
Kason Corporation manufactures equipment such as circular vibratory screeners and centrifugal screeners designed to separate bulk solids materials from solids and slurries, as well as a line of fluid-bed processors for drying, cooling, or moisturizing of bulk solids. The company serves a variety of end-markets, primarily food and dairy, chemical and plastic manufacturers. Kason is based in Millburn, NJ (www.kason.com).
Baird Capital partnered with executive Jon Weiner on this acquisition. Mr. Weiner will lead Kason as CEO. Previously Mr. Weiner served as President of Pall Industrial-The Americas, a subsidiary of Pall Corporation that specializes in filtration, separation and purification products. Henry Alamzad will continue in his position as President of Kason.
Baird Capital, the direct private investment arm of Robert W. Baird & Co., invests in lower middle-market companies in the manufactured products, healthcare and business services sectors. The firm invests from $15 million to $35 million in companies with enterprise values of $25 million to $125 million and EBITDAs greater than $5 million. Baird Capital was founded in 1989 and is based in Chicago (www.bairdcapital.com).
“We have actively followed the process controls industry for several years and believe Kason is a strong business with an established market position,” said Andrew Brickman, Partner in Baird Capital’s US Private Equity group. “The team we have built with Jon Weiner and Henry Alamzad positions us to scale the business by developing better penetration in our existing markets, while also looking to expand into international markets.”
© 2013 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 10-31-13