American Industrial Partners Capital Fund IV, L.P. (AIP, www.aipartners.com) announced that it has formed a new business unit, Brooks Instrument LLC (www.brooksinstrument.com), which acquired the Brooks Instrument division of Emerson Electric Co. (www.emerson.com) on December 31, 2007. Brooks is a supplier of flow measurement and control devices for low-flow appliactions. AIP is a private equity investment firm that applies an operational approach to building and improving middle-market companies. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Brooks is headquartered in Hatfield, Pa., with manufacturing locations in Hungary, France, the Netherlands, and Japan. The company maintains sales offices throughout the world and its products are used to regulate the flowrates of gases and liquids in laboratory and process applications in end markets, such as: life sciences, chemicals, semiconductor, analytical instruments, nuclear, and solar cells. Brooks” products include: variable-area flowmeters, thermal mass flowmeters, Coriolis flowmeters, magnetic level gauges, and float switches.
American Industrial Partners partnered with HSBC in the acquisition of Brooks. Lenders to the transaction included GMAC Commercial Finance and AIG.
