Sentinel Capital Partners, a New York-based private equity, has acquired ECM Industries, New Berlin, WI, a manufacturer of electrical products for construction, maintenance, lighting, irrigation, landscape supply, and gas utility markets. The electrical brands included in the acquisition are Gardner Bender, King Innovation, Bergen Industries, AW Sperry Instruments and Calterm. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
ECM serves electricians, maintenance technicians, and do-it-yourselfers with a wide range of brands, including Gardner Bender – ECM's flagship brand that provides a wide variety of rough electrical products and tools; King Innovation – a manufacturer of connectors for harsh environments; and Bergen Industries – a manufacturer of construction and maintenance lighting. ECM manages more than 3,000 SKUs and leverages long-term relationships across diverse sales channels, including distributors, specialty hardware stores, and home centers.
"We know the ECM team well through having worked closely with them in our prior investment in Power Products, and we are very excited to again partner with them as they pursue a multiyear strategic plan to build an electrical products platform with a diverse mix of brands, markets, and channels," said John Van Sickle, a Sentinel partner, in the press release. "ECM has an exceptional financial profile and has proven itself an innovator and consolidator in the electrical products industry. ECM is well positioned to continue driving strong performance."
"ECM serves a growing $2 billion-plus addressable market with favorable secular trends and has a significant opportunity to expand in both core segments and adjacencies," said Mike Masino, ECM's CEO, in the release. "My team and I are very excited to work with Sentinel again."
The past year has been active for Sentinel. Besides acquiring ECM, Sentinel made three other new platform investments, including Mobile Communications America, a communications solutions and services provider; New Era Technology, a technology solutions provider; and SSJA Bariatric Management, an administrative support service provider to a network of bariatric surgery offices. Sentinel also completed two exits, including CINgroup, a workflow solutions provider to the consumer bankruptcy market, and The Luminaires Group, a leader in the specification-grade lighting industry.