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P&M Corporate Finance, LLC (“PMCF”) is pleased to announce it served as the exclusive investment banker to Crane Engineering Sales, LLC (“Crane” or the “Company”) in its sale of a majority interest to AEA Investors’ Small Business Private Equity (“AEA SBPE”).
Headquartered in Kimberly, Wisconsin, Crane is a value-added distributor of engineered fluid handling solutions and services. The Company uniquely blends three distinct capabilities into a highly synergistic offering, including exclusive product distribution, value-added service centers, and design and integration of complex, engineered skid systems. Founded over 80 years ago with one vendor relationship and one location, the Company has grown its footprint to become one of the pre-eminent fluid handling distributors across the Midwest region offering over 10,000 product SKUs from 600+ vendors to a highly diverse industrial customer base.
AEA Investors LP was founded in 1968 by the Rockefeller, Mellon and Harriman family interests and S.G. Warburg & Co. as a private investment vehicle for a select group of industrial family offices with substantial assets. Today, AEA’s approximately 120 investment professionals operate globally with offices in New York, Stamford, San Francisco, London, Munich and Shanghai. The firm manages funds that have approximately $19 billion of invested and committed capital including the leveraged buyouts of middle market companies and small business companies, growth capital and mezzanine and senior debt investments. AEA SBPE is a strategy within AEA that currently manages $3 billion of invested and committed capital. The team seeks to help grow and transform companies at the lower end of the middle market by sponsoring growing companies with proven management teams and superior business models.
Lance Crane, CEO of Crane, remarked, “We are thrilled to have found a partner who shares similar people-first values. AEA will help us capitalize on our many in-process growth initiatives and aid in our geographic expansion plans, while we benefit from their extensive experience and relationships within the broader flow control markets. The management team and I will continue to be significant owners of the business, and we are looking forward to our partnership with the AEA SBPE team as we continue to provide innovative solutions to our customers.”
PMCF served as exclusive investment banker to Crane, managing the entire transaction process. Mr. Crane added, “We are extremely grateful for the exceptional outcome that PMCF helped us secure. We hired Joe Wagner and the PMCF team given their deep and extensive experience within the flow control space.” Joe Wagner, Managing Director of PMCF, added, “Crane is built to be a platform company in this market. We are proud to have helped Crane find the right partner for the next chapter of the Company’s growth story. This is a one-of kind business with a rich history and fantastic management team, and we are excited to watch what they will achieve in partnership with AEA.”
The transaction closed in August 2023. Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren s.c. served as the legal advisor to the Company.
PMCF is a client-centric middle market investment bank providing merger and acquisition advisory services to private, public, and private equity-owned companies worldwide. We combine our expansive industry and transactional expertise with highly engaged senior-level bankers to create tailored solutions for all our clients. PMCF helps clients meet their sale, acquisition, financing, and strategic growth objectives through a broad range of services, including sale advisory, acquisition advisory, capital raising, transaction planning, and strategic advisory. We have dedicated professionals focused on key industry verticals including business & technology services, manufacturing, distribution, transportation & logistics, plastics & packaging, healthcare, and consumer & retail industries.
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