The Watermill Group, a private investment firm, announced the sale of Global Tubes to AMETEK for approximately $200 million.
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With annual sales of approximately $120 million, Global Tubes is a manufacturer of highly specialized precision metal tubing from a wide variety of metals and alloys including stainless steel, nickel, zirconium, and titanium. Its products are used in highly engineered applications serving the aerospace, energy, power generation, and medical markets.
At the time Watermill acquired the businesses in 2012, Fine Tubes Ltd. and Superior Tube Company, Inc. were operated independently by a family holding company.
Since uniting the two companies under the Global Tubes name, Watermill and management overhauled both production facilities in order to streamline manufacturing operations, increased production capacity, upgraded equipment, and decreased product lead times to provide enhanced value to customers.
As part of a Watermill-led strategic planning process, the firm also re-focused on the needs of key customer and market segments, with a corresponding strengthening of capabilities and engineering resources. The refreshed strategy, operations excellence initiatives, and key management hires under Watermill ownership built a strong foundation for accelerated sales growth.
"We are very pleased with the Global Tubes transformation. In just under three years, the business has developed from two disparate entities that were challenged to keep up with production demands, into an integrated global tubing platform that is adept at anticipating market needs and delivering mission-critical products for its customers. This reinvention is reflected in the fact that revenue has improved by 16% and EBITDA has more than doubled," stated Steven E. Karol, Managing Partner and Founder of The Watermill Group.
"With Watermill, Superior Tube and Fine Tubes have made significant advancements in service levels and built a strong foundation for accelerated global growth," stated David Robinson, Chairman of Global Tubes and a Watermill advisor.
Global Tubes joins AMETEK as part of its Electromechanical Group (EMG) – a differentiated supplier of electrical interconnects, precision motion control solutions, specialty metals, thermal management systems, and floor care and specialty motors. ■