Kele, a portfolio company of The Stephens Group, has acquired Lesman Instrument Company. The Stephens Group acquired Kele in February 2020 from Snow Phipps Group.
Lesman is a distributor of temperature, pressure, level and flow instruments that are used to measure, analyze, control and automate industrial processes. The company, led by President Mike DeLacluyse, was founded in 1962 and is based near Chicago in Bensenville, Illinois.
Kele supplies control products including sensors, transmitters, switches, gauges and relays that are used in commercial and industrial buildings to detect and transmit information such as room temperature and humidity to building HVAC controllers.
Kele has more than 125,000 SKUs sourced from more than 300 suppliers, and also provides assembly, tagging and kitting, calibration and programming services. The company, led by CEO Richard Campbell, was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Memphis.
“Mike built a fantastic business, and we are thrilled to partner with him and the entire team at Lesman,” said Mr. Campbell. “We look forward to working with Lesman to expand Kele’s capabilities in the process automation market.”
“Lesman is an excellent business and a great fit with Kele,” said Grant Jones, a managing director at The Stephens Group. “We are excited to support the Kele team as they build the leading distributor of process and automation solutions.”
Little Rock, Arkansas-based The Stephens Group is a family-office that makes both minority and control investments in public and privately held companies. Sectors of interest include industrial and commercial products and services, specialty distribution, technology infrastructure and tech-enabled services, B2B food and beverage, and consumer products.
Livingstone Partners was the financial advisor to Lesman on this transaction.
© 2021 Private Equity Professional | February 9, 2021
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