On Tuesday, The Crest Group announced the acquisition of Dukane, a global manufacturer of advanced ultrasonic solutions and plastic joining technologies based in St. Charles, Illinois. Stellex Capital Management, a New York-based private equity firm, backed the deal. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Based in Ewing Township, New Jersey, Crest is the largest privately held company in the ultrasonic industry and manufactures ultrasonic cleaning and welding equipment for the medical, electronics, aerospace, automotive, industrial, consumer and precision manufacturing markets.
Dukane offers a broad technology portfolio in plastic joining and specializes in designing and producing highly engineered, automation-enabling plastic bonding and cutting solutions for mission-critical manufacturing applications across the medical, nonwoven, transportation, food processing, packaging, electronics and general industrial sectors. The company maintains operations in the U.S., Europe and Asia.
In a statement, Dukane said, "No action is required from customers at this time." The company said customers should continue to work with their existing Dukane sales, applications engineering, service and support contacts until otherwise notified. Existing purchase orders, quotes, contracts, warranty obligations, service arrangements and delivery commitments will continue under their existing terms.
“What impressed us most about Dukane was the combination of innovative products, capabilities, and a strong corporate culture,” said Tom Cunningham, CEO of Crest. “We believe their capabilities complement our own and will help us serve customers more effectively as we continue scaling our platform internationally.”
Engineered with automation in mind, Dukane's technologies deploy across a range of production settings, from in-line automation within highly automated production lines to automated work cells and benchtop systems.
“Dukane has built a strong business,” said Ray Whiteman, co-founder and managing partner at Stellex. “We believe Stellex’s operationally focused value creation model is well suited to scaling specialized industrial businesses like Dukane, and we are excited to partner further with the Crest and Dukane teams to support the combined platform’s next chapter.”
Supported by an extensive patent portfolio, Dukane serves more than 3,500 customers worldwide.
Stellex Capital is a private equity firm with more than $6.9 billion in assets under management. Stellex seeks to identify and deploy capital in opportunities that stand to benefit from its operationally focused and hands-on approach to investing. Sectors of particular focus include aerospace, defense, logistics, manufacturing, food processing and tech-enabled services.
