HEICO Corporation makes two acquisitions

HEICO Corporation of Hollywood, FL announced on August 24 that it has completed two acquisitions, in addition to one announced last week.  Both purchases were made for cash, but other transaction terms and financial details were not disclosed.

HEICO stated that it expects both acquisitions to be accretive to its earnings within the first year after the closing.

MIDWEST MICROWAVE SOLUTIONS, INC.

The Company’s Electronic Technologies Group completed the acquisition of 80.1% of the shares of privately-held Midwest Microwave Solutions, Inc. (“MMS”) from MMS’s founders/managers.

Hiawatha, IA-based MMS designs, manufactures and sells unique Size, Weight, Power and Cost (SWAP-C) optimized Communications and Electronic Intercept Receivers and Tuners for military and intelligence applications.  MMS’ front-end RF and Microwave hardware is used by the U.S. Intelligence Community for Signal Intercept applications, such as search, data collection, precision geolocation, direction finding and beamforming operations.

MMS, which employs approximately 25 people, will continue its operations substantially as they existed before the purchase, including remaining in the same location and retaining its name.  HEICO also stated that it does not expect any employee turnover to result from the acquisition.

Phil Rezin, MMS’s Co-Founder and President, commented, “We’re very excited to partner with HEICO, as they understand perfectly how to allow successful businesses like MMS to thrive under existing management.  HEICO shares our commitment to excellent customer service through superior designs and fast turn times, so we know our customers and Team Members will continue to be well served.”

Laurans Mendelson, HEICO’s Chairman and CEO, along with Eric Mendelson and Victor Mendelson, HEICO’s Co-Presidents, remarked, “MMS expands HEICO’s intelligence gathering equipment businesses and perfectly matches with HEICO—it makes difficult to design and unique devices, it’s focused on customer satisfaction and growth and, most important, it has a top-notch and committed management team.  Phil Rezin’s, Steve Wilson’s and Mike Horn’s desire to retain significant ownership shows one of the many reasons we have so much confidence in them. We look forward to a long and fruitful future together.”

ASTROSEAL MANUFACTURING CORP.

HEICO’s Flight Support Group acquired Astroseal Products Manufacturing Corp. (“Astroseal”).  Astroseal makes expanded foil mesh which is integrated into composite aerospace structures for lightning strike protection in fixed and rotary wing aircraft. Nearly all aircraft make use of composites needing Astroseal’s “Astrostrike”® products for both shielding and lightning protection on large areas of the fuselage, wings, empennage, stabilizers, engine nacelles, propellers, winglets and the rotor blades.

Composite materials are increasingly used in aviation applications, and expanded foil mesh is the most widely used technology to protect composite structures when struck by lightning.  HEICO has significantly grown its composite components operations over the past 2 ½ years through a combination of acquisitions and organic growth.

Founded in 1965, Astroseal is located in Chester, CT. Most of Astroseal’s staff will remain in place after the acquisition and HEICO does not anticipate any changes to Astroseal’s quality, customer relationships, name or location.

Laurans Mendelson, Eric Mendelson and Victor Mendelson together remarked, “We are impressed with the technical accomplishments of Ken Grass and his team, as well as the breadth of composite manufacturers’ approvals obtained by Astroseal.  Astroseal augments HEICO Flight Support group’s expanding offering of aerospace composite products.”

Ken Grass and Deb Grass, Astroseal’s former owners, commented, “Having HEICO, a first class quality company, as our preferred acquirer delivers to us a high degree of comfort for the future growth of our Astrostrike® products.  The outstanding professionalism of the HEICO team, along with their strong core values provides us with great confidence for the future of both our customers and our employees.  We could not imagine a better steward for the future of our company than HEICO.”

Source: HEICO Corporation