May River Capital has acquired The Dickson Company, a provider of test and measurement instrumentation and related software tools.
Dickson’s products include data loggers, chart recorders, indicators and sensors that are used in a variety of highly regulated industries – including healthcare, pharmaceutical, food & beverage, and medical devices – which carry stringent environmental and quality control requirements.
Dickson’s products are used in many applications including to ensure that foods are stored at government-mandated temperatures and that prescription drugs are formulated in the correct conditions. The company was founded in 1923 and is headquartered near Chicago in Addison, IL (www.dicksondata.com).
May River will use Dickson as a platform to build a larger test and measurement instrumentation company. “There is a fantastic opportunity in front of us to assist Dickson in its next phase of growth as a leading environmental monitoring and audit compliance partner to its customers,” said Chip Grace, a Partner with May River. “Central to our thesis is a belief that increasing regulation and heightened focus on product safety will continue to drive growth for Dickson’s products and services.”
Rick Weiler, a member of May River’s Executive Resource Group, will serve as Executive Chairman of the new platform. “Dickson is at a unique inflection point with respect to its next-generation products and value-added service offering,” said Mr. Weiler. “The company has been growing at an impressive rate in these core areas of focus. We see numerous opportunities, both organic and acquisitive, to assist Dickson in enhancing this growth rate and its product and service offering.” Mr. Weiler’s prior experience includes senior management positions with Atlas Material Testing, Micronics, PerkinElmer Optoelectronics, Allied Signal, and United Technologies.
Chicago-based May River invests from $15 million to $40 million of equity in companies with enterprise values of $15 million to $75 million, revenues of at least $10 million, and EBITDA of at least $3 million. Sectors of interest include high-value manufacturing, engineered products, industrial services, and value-added industrial distribution businesses. May River was founded in February 2012 and closed its inaugural fund, May River Fund I, in March 2017 with total limited partner commitments of $165 million. The new fund was raised in just six months and closed above target (www.mayrivercapital.com).
NXT Capital (www.nxtcapital.com) provided the debt financing to support the buy of Dickson. EC Mergers & Acquisitions (www.ec-ma.com) was the financial advisor to Dickson and its shareholders.
© 2018 Private Equity Professional | April 13, 2018
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