Snow Phipps has acquired Prototek, a provider of rapid prototyping services, from CORE Industrial Partners.
Prototek’s capabilities include CNC machining, powder coating, chromating, anodizing, silk screening, and assembly. The company can prototype parts from a range of materials. The company specializes in difficult and complex parts and has capabilities with a range of metals and plastics including steel, stainless steel, mirrored stainless, aluminum, copper, and polycarbonates.
Prototek’s customers are active in the aerospace, defense, medical, robotics, electronics, consumer, telecommunications, and general industrial sectors. The company, founded in 1987 and led by CEO Bill Gress, is headquartered 75 miles north of Boston in Contoocook, New Hampshire, and has manufacturing facilities in Wisconsin, California, and New Hampshire.
CORE acquired Prototek from the founding Isabelle family in December 2017. During its ownership term, the company closed two add-on acquisitions that provided the company with a nationwide footprint and added service capabilities in the medical and technology markets. The two add-ons were Cal-X, a Wisconsin-based provider of rapid prototyping and short-run production services, in July 2019; and Hayes Manufacturing Services, a California-based provider of rapid prototyping and short-run production services, in July 2018.
“During CORE’s ownership, we made considerable investments to significantly enhance Prototek’s sales and marketing capabilities, including development of an experienced sales team and deployment of a digital marketing strategy that drove rapid organic growth,” said TJ Chung, a senior partner of CORE and the chairman of Prototek’s board. “Prototek augmented these growth-enabling investments with myriad operational initiatives to expand capacity, integrate systems and improve access to data for better and faster decision-making.”
“We could not be prouder of what Prototek and its outstanding management team have accomplished over the last few years,” said John May, the managing partner of CORE. “With access to CORE’s operational resources and support, the team built Prototek into a national, market-leading rapid prototyping services provider.”
With the close of the sale, Jay Twombly, an operating partner at Snow Phipps, will join Prototek as its non-executive chairman of the board. “Bill and his team have a proven track record of success and a clear vision to drive further growth,” said Mr. Twombly. “We look forward to working with them and providing the resources needed to execute their expansion strategy.”
“We are excited to partner with Prototek and its strong management team,” said John Pless, a partner at Snow Phipps. “Prototek has built a differentiated platform and we are excited about the significant opportunities we see for both organic and acquisition growth.”
New York City-based Snow Phipps makes control investments in companies primarily located in North America with enterprise values ranging from $100 million to $500 million that require equity investments ranging from $50 million to $150 million. Sectors of interest include industrials, services, and consumer. The firm was co-founded by Ian Snow and Ogden Phipps in April 2005.
Chicago-based CORE makes control investments in companies that have revenues of up to $200 million, EBITDA of up to $20 million, and enterprise values up to $150 million. Sectors of interest include a range of specialty verticals within the manufacturing and industrial technology sectors. In February 2019, the firm held a final close of CORE Industrial Partners Fund I LP with total commitments of $230 million.
Lincoln International was the financial advisor to Prototek on this transaction.
Private Equity Professional | October 2, 2020
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