New Water Capital (New Water), a Boca Raton-based, lower-middle market private equity firm, has sold Emerald EMS (Emerald), a leading provider of high-mix, low-volume engineering, design, prototyping, testing, assembly and lifecycle support services for blue-chip original equipment manufacturers, to private equity firm Crestview Partners (Crestview).
Emerald EMS increased earnings five-fold during the two years of New Water’s ownership.
“Our goal in launching Emerald, through our partnership with a world-class management team, strategic capital investments and acquisitions, was to create a company with the unique capabilities and reach to benefit from the rapidly increasing demand for next-generation electronic technologies in high-reliability industries and end markets,” said New Water Capital partner Brian McGee. “We are extremely proud of Emerald’s success and look forward to following its continued growth with Crestview’s support.”
New Water’s initial investment in the Electronic Manufacturing Services (EMS) sector occurred in September 2019, through its initial simultaneous acquisition of Salem, New Hampshire-based DataED and Silicon Valley-based Bestronics, Inc. New Water and management re-branded the two companies in June 2020 to create Emerald EMS.
Soon after the official launch of Emerald, the business acquired three additional EMS providers—Saline, Michigan-based Saline Lectronics; Brea, California-based Veris Manufacturing; and San Jose-based Optimum Manufacturing—to create one of the largest high-mix, low-volume EMS providers in North America. The combination created an enterprise uniquely positioned to handle the increasing complexity in electronic content for industrial, aerospace, defense, and medical industries.
“We are thankful to have partnered with the New Water team in building this truly unique platform together,” said Vic Giglio, CEO of Emerald. “Our shared vision was invaluable in accomplishing so much in a short period of time. With the foundation in place, we are excited to have Crestview as our partner for this next phase in Emerald’s evolution. Our focus on providing high-quality and high-reliability solutions to our customers is unwavering, and we look forward to having additional scale and resources to continue these efforts. We believe Crestview’s highly complementary experience and commitment to continuing Emerald’s acquisition expansion strategy will enable us to reach our growth potential. We are proud of the results we have achieved in partnership with New Water and are thankful to their team for all of their support.”
New Water Capital’s success with creating and expanding Emerald EMS is exemplary of its successful investment strategy, which focuses on providing funding support and operational expertise to promising companies in active market sectors, empowering them to achieve their next level of growth.
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
About New Water Capital L.P.
New Water Capital L.P. is a private equity firm focused on lower-middle market companies in the consumer products and industrial manufacturing and services sectors with revenues of $30 million to $300 million. New Water Capital’s collaborative transaction and operating model is built specifically to support companies in transition, building on their unique cultures and strengths. For more information, please visit www.newwatercap.com.
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