Saint Paul/Minneapolis, MN – July 16, 2008 – PaR Systems, Inc. (“PaR”) announces that MML Capital Partners (“MML”) and PaR’s management have teamed to acquire the company from American Capital Ltd. (Nasdaq: ACAS), with senior financing provided by M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank.
PaR is a leading provider of specialized material handling and automation equipment, serving a diverse group of Fortune 500 customers in the aerospace, defense, food and beverage, hazardous material management, industrial manufacturing, and life sciences industries. With 270 employees, PaR offers complete engineering and manufacturing capabilities. Over the last 25 years, PaR has supplied all of the aircraft elevators and over half of the weapons elevators on U.S. Navy ships (Jered LLC), built the two largest operating robots in the world, a neutron and x-ray system to inspect jet fighters (PaR Robotics), and one of the world’s tallest automated cranes for NASA to inspect the space shuttle’s solid rocket motors (Ederer, LLC).
MML’s investment in PaR demonstrates the firm’s strategy of partnering with a strong management team and providing all levels of junior capital. Commenting on the acquisition, Robert Davies, Managing Director of MML said: “We are very pleased to add PaR to our Fund IV portfolio. PaR represents a strong platform serving very attractive end markets and we look forward to supporting the management team in executing the Company’s business plan.”
Mark Wrightsman, President & CEO of PaR, added: “The PaR team is really looking forward to partnering with MML Capital Partners to support the company’s growth. MML’s strong track record with other management teams became evident to us during this process. After the in-depth review of PaR’s past results and growth plans, MML expressed their confidence in our strategy, employees, and management. PaR is an excellent fit with MML’s high expectations for results that benefit customers and shareholders.”
PaR’s unique blend of industrial and commercial, as well as aerospace and defense experience continues to provide a rare capability to meet customer’s material handling and automation needs in demanding applications.
PaR Systems’ corporate headquarters and Robotics division is located in Shoreview, Minnesota, with manufacturing facilities in Shoreview and Brunswick, Georgia, engineering offices in Seattle, Washington and Iron Mountain, Michigan, a technology center in Ft. Worth, Texas, and sales liaison office in Shanghai, China. Founded in 1961, PaR has a rich history of providing specialized and standard automation equipment to industries that include aerospace, defense, energy, food and beverage, government, hazardous material management, industrial manufacturing, life sciences, medical manufacturing, marine, semi-conductor, and other specialized markets. For more information, visit www.par.com.
MML is an independent investment firm, with over US$2 billion invested across 11 countries over the past 20 years. It provides capital to businesses for expansion/acquisitions, recapitalizations, and leveraged and management buy-outs. Mezzanine Management recently changed its name to MML Capital Partners, and has offices in London, Paris, Frankfurt, and Stamford, Connecticut (USA), and affiliated Central European funds with offices in Vienna, Budapest, Warsaw and Bucharest.
Contact: Karen Knoblock
PH: 651-528-5275
kknoblock@par.com
