RBC Bearings Closes On $500M Deal To Buy Dover Unit
Connecticut-based RBC Bearings Inc. has closed out a $500 million cash and senior debt acquisition of Sargent Aerospace & Defense from Dover Corp., the growing company’s 24th acquisition and the first since 2013, according to a statement from RBC.
The sale, which was not subject to shareholder approval, will be financed using $80 million of cash on hand, $200 million in new debt and a $220 million draw of revolving credit, RBC indicated when it first announced the deal late last month.
Under the deal, which the parties finalized far ahead of its anticipated June completion date, RBC has added Sargent’s “precision-engineered” hydraulic valves and actuators, specialty bearings, and other products to the company’s already formidable manufacturing operations, which it claimed employ around 2,510 people across 25 facilities and five countries.
The new purchase of Sargent adds 750 employees and six facilities more to those operations, according to RBC’s Friday statement.
Headquartered in Tuscon, Arizona, Sargent generates about $195 million in sales each year, according to a statement from RBC, which made $418 million in sales last year.
In March, RBC’s CEO Michael J. Hartnett said that Sargent’s manufacturing processes and design experience “align very well with and complement those of RBC Bearings.”
RBC has estimated that the purchase will yield $78 million in net preset value tax benefits.
The seller, Dover, is an Illinois-based engineered systems manufacturer with 27,000 employees. It made $7.8 billion in revenue last year. The company’s president and CEO Robert A. Livingston has said that selling Sargent was in line with their current strategy. It put the business up for sale at the end of 2014 because it did not align with the company’s other operations, according to its annual filing.
Kirkland & Ellis LLP represents RBC Bearings in the transaction, led by partners Armand Della Monica, Shawn O'Hargan, Jason Kanner and Dean Shulman. Moelis & Company is serving as financial adviser.
Counsel information for Dover was not immediately available Monday.
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