The Business
AbelConn, LLC (www.abelconn.com) is an industry leading provider of backplane assemblies and interconnect products to the aerospace and military markets. AbelConn is a low volume/high mix manufacturer of high-reliability products that have primary uses in avionics, satellites, missiles, ships, tanks and other applications subject to high vibration or corrosive environments. Among the Company’s customers are General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Rockwell International, Honeywell, BAE Systems, Boeing, dataCon, L3, Northrup Grumman, Raytheon, Suntron, Smiths Industries and Sperry Marine. The Company is located in New Hope, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis.

The Industry
The aerospace and military market segments have repeatedly shown the greatest growth within the connector and backplane industries. These market segments are expected to enjoy strong growth over the next decade as commercial aircraft purchases remain strong and the United States Department of Defense continues to increase its budgeted spending on upgrading the military’s weapons systems and replacing old weapons platforms.

For these reasons, mergers and acquisitions within the contract manufacturing and connector industries have been driven less by size and more by acquirers attempting to enhance their profile in the aerospace and defense market segments as well as adding vertical manufacturing capabilities.

The Process
Prestwick Partners initiated this transaction and acted as exclusive financial advisor to AbelConn, its members and management. Prestwick Partners designed an M&A process, prepared marketing materials, evaluated acquisition proposals and negotiated the transaction with Capital For Business of St. Louis, Missouri, Marquette Capital Partners of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Argosy Partners of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Hickory Venture Group of Huntsville, Alabama.