The Altus approachto growth is
to create long-term value

Mergers & Acquisitions, By Jonathan Marino

Altus Capital Partners’ water purification portfolio company Aqua-Chem Inc., based in Knoxville, Tenn., acquired privately held competitor Specific Equipment Company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Specific Equipment Company provides fluid-handling systems for industry segments including resort hotels and petroleum companies. The deal will help Altus’ Aqua-Chem expand in foreign markets, including South America and Mexico.

Calls seeking comment were not acknowledged by press time.

The deal marks the second transaction for the portfolio company in as many years. Aqua-Chem also made a deal in 2008 to acquire assets from Matrix Utilities.

Altus partner Greg Greenberg worked on the deal for the private equity firm.

In a statement, he suggested that Altus could make further investments in Aqua-Chem to “broaden its product offerings and systems.”

The add-on deal comes amid a busy stretch for Altus. In May, the private equity firm sold its Gichner Holdings portfolio company to Kratos Defense in a $133 million deal that netted the firm a 6.7x return on equity and an IRR of 101 percent. Additionally, Altus saw its tech security platform Mistras Group float public shares via an IPO.

Other Altus assets include Die Cast Holdings, DS Brown, Thermafiber and Thomson Plastics.