NEW YORK — KKR, a global investment firm, announced Wednesday that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Flow Control Group, a distributor of mission-critical flow control and industrial automation products, from Bertram Capital.
Headquartered in Charlotte, NC, Flow Control Group serves as a trusted, value-added distributor and advisor to more than 10,000 customers and 2,000 suppliers in North America for technical flow control and industrial automation products and related services. Customers rely on Flow Control Group for their engineering expertise, technical support, and service capabilities for high value products including air equipment, pumps, valves, process control, and industrial automation, amongst other product categories.
“Flow Control Group stands out for their proven ability to be a strategic partner and consultative, technical resource for customers’ critical flow control and industrial automation product needs,” said Josh Weisenbeck, KKR Partner who leads KKR’s Industrials investment team. “We are excited to work together with David Patterson and the entire team at Flow Control Group to further expand the company’s reach, while remaining an excellent partner to their OEM suppliers and continuing to be a value-added team member for their customers.”
Since 2011, KKR’s Industrials team has focused on employee engagement as a key driver in building stronger businesses. The strategy’s cornerstone has been to allow all employees to take part in the benefits of ownership by granting them the opportunity to participate in the equity return alongside KKR. Beyond sharing ownership, KKR also supports employee engagement by investing in training across multiple functional areas and by partnering with the workforce to give back to the community.
Pete Stavros, KKR Partner and Co-Head of Americas Private Equity at KKR, said, “For over a decade, we have been developing a new model of employee engagement centered around an all employee ownership strategy, and we look forward to implementing this model at Flow Control Group alongside David Patterson and his team.”
“We are thrilled to have the support of KKR as we continue to grow our reach across the flow control and industrial automation sectors while investing to better serve our customers and supplier partners,” said David Patterson, CEO of Flow Control Group.
“We are fortunate to have had the opportunity to partner with Flow Control Group, under the exceptional leadership of CEO David Patterson, to achieve our shared vision of creating a leading independent player in the industry,” said Kevin Yamashita, Partner at Bertram Capital. “Working closely with the Flow Control Group team, we exceeded our growth plan through strategic add-on acquisitions, organic growth initiatives, the addition of key executive talent, and operational improvement.”
