Emerson (NYSE:EMR) today announced it sold its Brooks Instrument unit on December 31, 2007, to American Industrial Partners Capital Fund IV, L.P. (“AIP”) for approximately $100 million in cash. AIP is a private equity investment firm that applies an operational approach to building and improving middle-market companies.
Brooks is headquartered in Hatfield, PA with manufacturing locations in Hungary, France, the Netherlands, and Japan. The Company maintains sales offices throughout the world and its products are used to regulate the flow rates of gases and liquids in laboratory and process applications in end markets such as: life sciences, chemicals, semiconductor, analytical instruments, nuclear, and solar cells. Brooks' products include: variable area meters, thermal mass flow meters, Coriolis flow meters, magnetic level gauges, and float switches. These products are frequently mission critical and are often configured to address specific technical requirements of end use applications. Approximately half of the Company's sales are recurring revenues driven by its large installed base established by Brooks in over 60 years of industry leadership.
The sale of Brooks is representative of Emerson’s ongoing strategy to manage its business mix toward high-growth, high-return businesses that are strategic to its entire portfolio. Over the past 18 months, Emerson sold several small businesses which included its Western Forge hand tool unit and Buehler materials testing business, and in recent weeks sold its joint venture interest in Industrial Motion Control (IMC). Emerson also made a number of strategic acquisitions in the past year. Most recently, Emerson in September agreed to acquire Motorola’s Embedded Communications Computing (ECC) business for $350 million. That transaction also closed on Dec. 31.
INFO SOURCES
Emerson (NYSE:EMR); American Industrial Partners Capital Fund IV, L.P.
FIRMS
Emerson, based in St. Louis, is a global leader in bringing technology and engineering together to provide innovative solutions to customers through its network power, process management, industrial automation, climate technologies, and appliance and tools businesses. Sales in fiscal 2007 were $ 22.6 billion.
Founded in 1989, American Industrial Partners is a private equity firm that makes control equity investments in mid-sized industrial companies that can benefit from the firm’s systematic approach to implementing strategic and operational improvements.
Brooks, headquartered in Hatfield, PA, provides flow measurement and control devices to the low flow application market, and principally serves the chemical and semiconductor industries. Its sales in fiscal 2007 were approximately $90 million.
PEOPLE
Jim Dale, Chief Executive Officer of Brooks
ADVISORS
American Industrial Partners partnered with HSBC in the acquisition of Brooks. Lenders to the transaction included GMAC Commercial Finance and AIG.
NOTE
Hatfield is midway between Allentown and Philadelphia. Air Products (NYSE:APD) is based in Allentown.
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