Snow Phipps Group Acquires Winchester Electronics
July 11, 2016 New York, NY — Snow Phipps Group ("Snow Phipps") announced today that it has completed its acquisition of Winchester Electronics Corporation ("Winchester" or the "Company") from Audax Private Equity ("Audax"). Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
"Snow Phipps is excited to partner with Winchester's strong management team to begin executing on a significant number of attractive growth opportunities. The Winchester team has an impressive track record of executing their growth strategy both organically and through acquisitions, and we look forward to supporting the Company as it continues to find additional ways to serve customers and expand its product offering," said John Pless, Partner at Snow Phipps.
Headquartered in South Norwalk, Connecticut, Winchester is a leading provider of custom engineered interconnect solutions for high reliability applications in the military/aerospace, medical, semiconductor, data infrastructure, test & measurement, oil and gas, and other diversified end markets.
Snow Phipps will partner with the existing Winchester management team led by CEO Kevin Perhamus. Snow Phipps Operating Partner Jay Twombly will join Winchester as the non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors. Mr. Twombly formerly served as Chairman of Snow Phipps' portfolio company Boyd Corporation.
"We have tremendous respect for the accomplishments Kevin and his team have achieved to date and are very excited about working with them to create a global leader in connectivity solutions," said Mr. Twombly.
"Winchester is looking forward to leveraging the experience, resources, and strategic guidance of the Snow Phipps team to deliver outstanding operating results. We are excited about this next chapter of growth for our Company," said Mr. Perhamus.
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP were legal counsel to Snow Phipps in the transaction. Lincoln International served as financial advisor to Winchester and Audax. Kirkland & Ellis LLP were legal counsel to Winchester and Audax.
About Winchester Electronics
Founded in 1941, Winchester is a leading provider of custom engineered interconnect solutions for diverse, growing end markets requiring high reliability and application specific expertise. Winchester's world class design and engineering capabilities enable it to solve interconnect problems when downtime of the application can result in significant economic losses to the customer. The Company's complex, custom connectors and engineered cable assemblies transmit power and data to numerous global, blue-chip OEMs. Winchester's strategic global footprint, supported by nine facilities and one corporate office, provide local engineering and sales support to its customers. For more information about Winchester, visit www.winchesterelectronics.com.
About Snow Phipps Group
Snow Phipps is a private equity firm focused on middle-market control investments, targeting platform companies with enterprise values ranging from $100 million to $500 million. The firm utilizes an operating partner model to invest across the industrials, services, and consumer industries and seeks value creation through an operationally focused strategy. To learn more about Snow Phipps, visit www.snowphipps.com.
About Audax Private Equity
Since its founding in 1999, Audax Private Equity has been focused on building leading middle market companies. Through its disciplined Buy & Build approach, Audax seeks to help platform companies execute add-on acquisitions that fuel revenue growth, optimize operations, and significantly increase equity value. Audax Private Equity is an integral part of Audax Group, an alternative asset management firm specializing in investments in middle market companies. With offices in Boston, New York, and Menlo Park, Audax Group has over $10 billion in assets under management across its Private Equity, Mezzanine, and Senior Debt businesses. For more information, visit the Audax Group website at www.audaxgroup.com.
Media Contacts
Mary Beth Grover/Taylor Ingraham, ASC Advisors, (203) 992-1230
mbgrover@ascadvisors.com
tingraham@ascadvisors.com