KleinPartners Bringing Rollup Strategy to EMS
BRADENTON, FL -- One year after acquiring EMS firm Creonix, KleinPartners Capital plans at least three more deals over the next two years.
The private investment group bought Creonix in March 2010, then snatched up fellow printed circuit board assembler MSI of Central Florida at auction last fall.
Creonix plans to make at least two acquisitions in 2011 and a third in 2012, company president Ken Piela told a local newspaper. KleinPartners is the sole owner of Creonix.
The moves echo KleinPartners strategy in the bare board space, where the firm acquired several small PCB fabricators on the cheap, then closed most of the facilities and consolidated the manufacturing in a few plants, a move known as a rollup. The firm focuses on family-run, often distressed companies. Among the acquisitions over the past several years were Epec, FM Circuits, Waytec, Marlo Electronics, Excel Electrocircuit and Beaver Brook Circuits.
The strategy has left some companies unhappy with KleinPartners, however. One longtime EMS company told CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY the firm was brought on as a consultant with the understanding it would invest in the company, then backtracked on its promises. (CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY has been unable to verify the allegation.)
