Milwaukee-based Brady Corp. has acquired Precision Dynamics Corp. (PDC) from Water Street Healthcare Partners, a strategic private equity firm focused exclusively on the health care industry, in a cash transaction for $300 million.
PDC, with annual sales of approximately $173 million, is a leader in identification products primarily for the healthcare market, specializing in patient wristbands, specialty labels and identification systems used in hospitals to reduce medical errors and integrate and share patient data.
PDC, founded in 1956, is based in Valencia, Calif., and employs approximately 1,000 people globally. The company has manufacturing facilities in Tijuana, Mexico, and Port Orange, Fla., and a European sales office with light manufacturing in Nivelles, Belgium.
PDC’s health care wristband and label systems are used by most U.S. hospitals and reach every touch point in the delivery of patient care, from admissions to discharge.
“The acquisition of PDC, a leader in the U.S. health care identification space, provides an important anchor position for Brady in the attractive healthcare market and fits well with our mission to identify and protect premises, products and people, and our vision to be the market leader in all of our businesses,” said Brady president and chief executive officer Frank Jaehnert. “PDC’s highly regarded management team comes with deep experience in the healthcare identification space and has been very successful in building PDC into the strong business that it is today. PDC’s large customer base, strong channels to market and broad product offering together with Brady’s laboratory and people identification products, deep materials and printer expertise, and global footprint, make this a very attractive business combination and provide a strong foundation to build upon PDC’s market leading position.”
Curt Selquist, an operating partner with Water Street and chairman of PDC, said, “Over the last five years, we expanded and enhanced PDC’s product development and manufacturing capabilities, and significantly broadened its portfolio of identification products through strategic acquisitions. The sale of PDC to such a highly regarded market leader in identification solutions fulfills our mission of having PDC end up with a company that continues this mission of long-term profitable growth.”
