Elmet, (www.elmettechnologies.com) headquartered in Lewiston, Maine, is a fully integrated supplier of complex components which are fabricated from advanced enabling materials, principally molybdenum and tungsten. Elmet is unique in its industry as one of only a handful of companies in the world that is fully integrated―taking in molybdenum and tungsten in raw powder form at one end of the plant, and shipping completed, high tolerance components for medical, semiconductor, and high temp furnace systems from the other.
Founded in 1929, and for most of its history, Elmet was a wholly owned division of Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands (“Philips”), the global lighting company. Elmet still has a significant product line in specialty lighting filaments, diodes and cathodes, principally for fluorescent or highly demanding incandescent applications.
Ampersand Ventures (www.ampersandventures.com) is a well known private equity firm formed in 1988 to provide capital to later stage, growth equity opportunities where it has unique insights or knowledge, in this case, specifically through its prior interest in specialty materials.
Liberty Lane Partners (www.libertylane.com) is a private equity investor which has closely followed Elmet since its acquisition by Jensen in 2004, and teamed up with Ampersand on this opportunity to become one of Elmet’s principal investors.
Elmet Technologies, Inc. (“Elmet”) announced that it has been recapitalized by Ampersand Ventures and Liberty Lane Partners. This transaction is the successful culmination of an initiative led by The Bigelow Company LLC on behalf of Elmet to proactively seek out the “Best New Majority Shareholder” for the Company, and in so doing, provide a liquidity event for Elmet’s current stockholders.
“We are delighted to access the strategic brains of Ampersand Ventures and the financial brawn of Liberty Lane which, combined with our experienced management team, should enable Elmet to meet the increasing needs of our customers.” Jack Jensen, Former President & CEO Elmet Technologies, Inc.
Since its purchase from Philips by CEO Jack Jensen and a consortium of investors in 2004, Elmet has continuously improved its technology and processes to focus on highly demanding, specialty applications utilizing its proprietary knowledge for making exotic metal ingots and fabricating high tolerance parts.
“In this time of capital market turbulence, we continue to be reminded by our best-in-class owner-managed client companies that there are compelling value-capturing alternatives available for the niche leader. Under Jack Jensen’s leadership, Elmet carved out a differentiated position to meet the growing use of refractory metals in technology driven market applications. We salute Jack and his terrific management team.” David Linton, Managing Director Bigelow
