Situation
BERKS Group is the investment arm of St. Joseph-based Bradley Family that seeks to acquire businesses in three verticals: agribusiness, education technology and precision manufacturing. Within their precision manufacturing vertical, BERKS Group targets contract manufacturers focused on tight-tolerance, complex components for medical, aerospace and select industrial applications. Their objective is to build a platform of specialized manufacturers to serve leading original equipment manufacturers across the globe.
Approach
CCCA has been advising BERKS since early in their investment process to delineate the universe of potential acquisition targets and refine the list to those companies that best meet BERKS’ investment thesis. CCCA narrowed the scope to several hundred companies to further investigate and contact in order to determine the potential for a transaction. CCCA was able to position BERKS as a differentiated buyer by highlighting their buy and hold strategy, Midwest attitude and family culture.
Outcome
CCCA identified Instrument Development Corporation (“IDC”) and its family office owner, Monument Capital Partners in 2018 and began discussing a potential sale of the business. IDC provides precision milling of components for guidance and targeting systems in missiles, warfighter weapons and fighter aircraft. The business was of particular interest to BERKS given its strong market position in weapon systems which provided diversification for BERKS’ existing precision machining business in the medical equipment space. CCCA is continuing discussions with numerous acquisition candidates as BERKS is actively looking to continue expanding its precision manufacturing platform.
