St. Louis-based technology company Emerson recently announced it has sold its Brooks Instrument unit on December 31, 2007, to American Industrial Partners Capital Fund IV, L.P. ("AIP") for approximately $100 million in cash. AIP is a private equity investment firm that applies an operational approach to building and improving middle-market companies.
Brooks, headquartered in Hatfield, Pa., provides flow measurement and control devices to the low flow application market, and principally serves the chemical and semiconductor industries. Its sales in fiscal 2007 were approximately $90 million.
According to the company, the sale of Brooks is representative of Emerson's ongoing strategy to manage its business mix toward high-growth, high-return businesses that are strategic to its entire portfolio. Over the past 18 months, Emerson sold several small businesses which included its Western Forge hand tool unit and Buehler materials testing business, and in recent weeks sold its joint venture interest in Industrial Motion Control (IMC). Emerson also made a number of strategic acquisitions in the past year. Most recently, Emerson in September agreed to acquire Motorola's Embedded Communications Computing (ECC) business for $350 million. That transaction also closed on Dec. 31.
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