Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – Tecum Equity announced today its investment in Kadon Precision and Aerospace (“Kadon” or the “Company”), a precision manufacturing company based in Rockford IL, which focuses on the aerospace, defense, space, and industrial product markets.
Founded in 1952, Kadon is led by second-generation owner Justin Franklin, who will remain with the business as CEO. Kadon specializes in Swiss turn, milling, lathe and multi-axis precision machining, and assembly. Kadon maintains both an ISO 9001 and AS9100 D certified quality management system and has over 70,000 square feet of manufacturing space. Expect Excellence is at the heart of Kadon and its culture as they strive every day to provide the highest quality precision machined parts delivered on time and at a competitive price. Kadon’s customers include several publicly traded and large privately-held Original Equipment Manufacturers (“OEMs”) who rely on Kadon as a trusted contract manufacturing partner.
Justin Franklin, CEO of Kadon noted, “As I contemplated bringing on a financial and operational partner to support our 100+ employee team in its next phase of growth, Tecum differentiated itself with its extensive experience in precision manufacturing and in its track record of growing businesses both organically and through acquisitions. Their understanding of the culture of Kadon and the importance of people in all that we do made Tecum my partner of choice.”
Stephen Gurgovits, Jr., Managing Partner of Tecum, added, “We are extremely excited to support Justin in his vision for Kadon. We will look to leverage our team’s experience and expertise in precision manufacturing and our ability to source and fund complementary acquisitions to support Kadon’s continued evolution into a partner of choice for leading OEMs across regulated industries.”
Dave Bonvenuto, Tecum Operating Partner noted, “Tecum looks forward to working closely with the Kadon team and to help build on Justin’s focus on people – systems – processes to allow Kadon to scale. Our team has considerable operational experience in the precision manufacturing industry, and we look to leverage that expertise to support Justin in his continued vision of excellence and growth.”
The Company expects to execute key strategic priorities, including bringing more capabilities in-house to fully vertically integrate and further investment in technology and automation within its manufacturing operations. Kadon is actively searching to acquire additional businesses to expand its manufacturing capabilities and capacity in the aerospace, defense, space, and industrial end markets.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Clark Hill acted as lead Counsel. First Financial Bank provided senior debt financing. UMB Capital Corporation and LongWater Capital Solutions provided mezzanine debt and equity co-investment.
The Deal Team from Tecum consisted of Dave Bonvenuto, Ian Frazier, and Zac Forsyth.
ABOUT KADON
Kadon, founded in 1952, is headquartered in Rockford IL, and specializes in Swiss turn, milling, lathe, and multi-axis precision machining and assembly for the aerospace, defense, space, and industrial end markets. Kadon is ISO 9001 and AS9100D certified and has over 70,000 square feet of manufacturing space and 100+ long-tenured and skilled employees, Kadon is a trusted partner to publicly traded and privately held OEM’s around the world. For more information, please visit www.kadonprecision.com.
ABOUT TECUM
Tecum Equity is the direct investment strategy of Tecum Capital. Tecum Equity is an operationally oriented growth investment firm focused on supporting family and founder-owned businesses within the precision manufacturing, high value-added distribution, and nondiscretionary B2B service sectors. We target industrial end markets where we can leverage our past operational and investment experience. We seek to support first-time ownership transitions where our resources and experiences can augment the existing team’s culture and capabilities. Since 2006, the team has collectively invested more than $1 Billion in over 100 platform and add-on acquisitions. For more information, please visit www.tecum.com.