Cambridge, MD–Airpax Corporation, a leading worldwide manufacturer of protection, sensing, and control components, modules, and systems, today announced its acquisition of Dimensions Unlimited. Equity financing for the acquisition was provided by Chicago Growth Partners, Norwest Equity Partners and management. Dimensions Unlimited, located in White Bear Lake, MN, is a leading manufacturer of power inverters that convert DC power, typically provided by a battery, to AC power. DC to AC power inverters are increasingly becoming the products of choice for operating sophisticated electronic equipment when grid power is not available. Dimensions Unlimited offers a complete line of reliable, efficient inverters capable of powering any type of equipment within their power rating. Dimensions Unlimited units can be found in a variety of applications including utility and service trucks, scissor lifts, traffic signal, home, and business power backup systems, steel mills, railroad locomotives, U.S. military, marine and recreational vehicles.
Dimensions Unlimited and Airpax currently participate in many complimentary markets, including work trucks, recreational vehicles, marine and military. As such, the combination of the two businesses will result in numerous exciting synergies with all of the Airpax business units, including Airpax ED&D’s leading edge E-Plex monitoring and control technology, Airpax power protection products and Airpax sensors and temperature controls, which can be fully developed through the company’s extensive global organization.
Dimensions Unlimited is now part of the Airpax Power Protection Products division. Dennis Getter, President of Dimensions Unlimited, will continue to lead the company. Mr. Getter will report to Steve McDonald, President of the Airpax Power Protection Products division. All of Dimensions Unlimited’s current operations in White Bear Lake, MN, will continue.
“Dimensions Unlimited’s strong market position in utility and work trucks establishes a strong foundation for growth, and their growing participation in recreational vehicles, military applications and traffic signals presents a very strong future for this company,” according to Mr. McDonald. “We are very
excited to partner with Dennis Getter and we believe that the combined strength of Airpax and Dimensions significantly advances our strategy of building a broader, more synergistic offering of products and services for our global customer base.”
Dennis Getter stated, “Dimensions Unlimited focuses on high quality inverters that provide strong, steady, and clean AC power. The future looks very bright for the combination of Dimensions Unlimited and Airpax. The two companies exactly match in our company philosophies of always providing superior products and outstanding customer service, with the highest degree of ethical behavior.”
About Airpax Corporation
Airpax Corporation is a privately held company with headquarters in Cambridge, MD and facilities in Frederick, MD; Oviedo, FL; Brownsville, TX; Matamoros, Mexico; and Shanghai, China. Airpax also participates in a joint venture in Japan with Sanken Electric Co., named Sanken-Airpax Co. Airpax Corporation consists of two operating units: Airpax Power Protection Products and Airpax Sensors and Control Systems. The Airpax product line includes hydraulic-magnetic and thermal circuit breakers, power inverters, semiconductor fuses, thermostats, temperature and speed sensors and E-Plex, a multiplexed monitoring and control system. A world leader in the markets it serves, Airpax is committed to making continuous improvement in every product and service it offers, and to providing world-class customer service. For more information about Airpax, including a complete list of worldwide representatives, contact Airpax Corporation at 1.301.663.5141, fax 1.301.698.0624 or visit the company’s website at www.airpax.net.
About Chicago Growth Partners
CGP is a Chicago-based private equity investment firm committed both to its investments and its investors in the lower middle market. The firm targets three primary sectors: business and consumer services, healthcare and industrial growth. CGP’s Partners have specialized in these industry sectors for more than 20 years and their combined experience in each of these areas totals 100-plus years. CGP distinguishes itself through its experienced team – including in-house marketing, information technology and operations expertise; its approach to the development and execution of strategies designed to build success; its focus on growth as the primary driver of returns and its commitment to partnering with portfolio companies that demonstrate strong management capability and opportunity. CGP moves beyond the delivery of growth capital by lending significant industry experience, knowledge and leadership to each business situation. CGP currently manages $1.2 billion of committed capital while investing Chicago Growth Partners VIII, a fund raised in Spring 2006. For more information, please visit www.cgp.com.
About Norwest Equity Partners
Located in Minneapolis, MN, NEP focuses on providing equity solutions to middle market companies through management buyouts, recapitalizations, industry consolidations and growth capital. Since its founding in 1961 and with $3 billion in capital under management, NEP has earned a reputation as one of the premier private equity investment firms and is currently investing NEP VIII, an $800 million partnership formed in September 2004.