News
Watervale Equity Partners Making Strategic Add-On Acquistions in 2023
Cleveland, Ohio (August 2, 2023) – Watervale Equity Partners (“Watervale”), a lower middle market private equity firm based in Cleveland, Ohio, has completed strategic acquisitions of BlackPoint Tactical (“BlackPoint”) and Transponder and Reader Engineered Systems (“TRES”) by Watervale portfolio companies High Speed Gear (“High Speed Gear”) and EMX Industries (“EMX”), respectively.
“Our portfolio companies continue to execute their organic growth initiatives, and strategic acquisitions are a great way to compliment and accelerate that growth, add product capability, and further enhance our companies’ organizations”, said Mike Faremouth, Managing Partner at Watervale. Jim Guddy, Managing Partner at Watervale, added, “all of our portfolio companies, including EMX, High Speed Gear, as well as Duke Manufacturing, are aggressively pursuing acquisition targets. It has been a good way to continue executing our value creation strategy.”
Watervale portfolio company EMX acquired TRES in June. EMX is a leading manufacturer of sensors and controls for the access control industry and process automation applications for various industrial markets. TRES is a manufacturer of RFID readers and tags for the access control market. Joe Williams, CEO of EMX, commented “we are excited to add the TRES RFID passive reader and tag technology to the EMX portfolio of products. TRES’ commitment to designing and manufacturing high performing products here in the United States shares our culture and strategy and we look forward to bringing these fantastic products to EMX’s valued network of distributors, dealers, and installers.” Mike Faremouth noted, “the acquisition advances the Company’s position as a leader in the access controls industry, and we continue to seek opportunities to further build the EMX platform.”
In January, Watervale portfolio company High Speed Gear acquired BlackPoint Tactical. High Speed Gear is a manufacturer of American-made, battle-proven tactical gear for law enforcement, military, and civilian end users while BlackPoint Tactical makes tactical holsters utilized by both local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies and consumer end users. “BlackPoint is a great fit alongside High Speed Gear’s existing holster business, Comp-Tac, which will enhance our holster product offering” said Mike Faremouth. “The cultural fit has been excellent, and the combined entity is generating new opportunities based on their combined capability.”
Terms of the transactions have not been disclosed.