Town of Genesee-based
Generac Holdings Inc. has acquired United Kingdom-based
Deep Sea Electronics in a deal valued at more than $340 million.
DSE is a designer and manufacturer of generator controllers, automatic transfer switch controllers, battery chargers and vehicle and off-highway controllers. The company employees 160 people across four continents and sells products to over 150 countries.
Generac, a maker of standby and portable generators and other energy technology, expects the acquisition to build on its controls and automation capabilities while accelerating growth in the distributed energy resource and microgrid market.
“The technical and engineering expertise of the team at Deep Sea Electronics is second to none and will help us accelerate our product roadmap for the future,” Generac president and CEO Aaron Jagdfeld said in a statement. “The high level of talent and bandwidth they bring are critical for Generac as we continue to participate in the ongoing evolution of the world’s electrical grid.”
Generac did not disclose the terms of the deal, which closed Tuesday.
However, private equity firm Caledonia Private Capital announced Tuesday that it had sold an 84.2% stake in DSE to Generac for $344.2 million. CPC acquired its stake in DSE in 2018, according to a press release.
Following the acquisition, DSE’s CEO David Thomson will continue to lead the company under direction of Patrick Forsythe, Generac’s chief technical officer.
The acquisition follows a first quarter where Generac posted its highest-ever revenue for a single quarter, which increased from $475.9 million to $807.4 million compared to last year. Residential product sales, including home standby generators, increased by 110% compared to last year.
After experiencing broad-based growth across its entire business, Generac adjusted its guidance to 40% to 45% growth compared to a previously reported range of 25% to 30%.
The company’s first quarter earnings benefited from power outages in Texas caused by winter storms, along with measures the company took to
expand home standby generator production in Wisconsin and at its other facilities.
In a recent
interview with BizTimes, Generac’s chief information officer Tim Dickson describes how a data-driven culture shift has helped Generac grow.
