Capital Safety Purchased for $1.12 Billion
Capital Safety Group CEO Anders Pettersson said KKR, the buyer, intends to continue to strategically invest in the company and expects its expansion in products and markets served to continue.
Red Wing, Minn.-based Capital Safety, the manufacturer of fall protection equipment under the DBI-SALA™, UNILINE® and PROTECTA® brands, announced Nov. 28 that it is being acquired by the investment buyout firm KKR from Arle Capital Partners, which has owned Capital Safety since mid-2007. The announcement said KKR has signed an agreement to pay $1.12 billion for the company, with the transfer occurring in January 2012, subject to mandatory regulatory approvals.
Capital Safety has made several acquisitions of its own recently and for several years has maintained a rapid pace of new product launches. The announcement refers to these, saying Capital Safety doubled its revenues during Arle Capital's ownership "through a commitment to aggressive research and development, which led to the launch of innovative first-in-the-industry products such as ExoFit NEX™ and i-Safe™ RFID equipment management system, enhanced its global supply chain and expanded into emerging markets for fall protection equipment. It also successfully executed five strategic acquisitions in Australia, Colombia, France and the U.K. to broaden its offerings for customers worldwide."
"Strong interest in our company is confirmation of our strategic direction and testament to the most experienced team of fall protection experts in the world," said Anders Pettersson, Capital Safety Group's CEO. "Without them, we could not have countered the global economic stresses and served a record number of customers with a record number of products."
Pettersson said KKR intends to continue to strategically invest in the company and expects its expansion in products and also markets served to continue. For more information, contact Capital Safety at 800-328-6146, 651-388-8282, or www.capitalsafety.com.