Middle-market private equity firm One Equity Partners (OEP) has completed its acquisition of ePak Resources, a designer and manufacturer of precision-engineered packaging for semiconductor, integrated circuits (ICs) and electronic components.
While financial terms of the private transaction have not been disclosed, management will continue to own a significant stake in the Company.
Headquartered in Austin, Texas, ePak makes high quality wafer and IC handling and packaging products such as boxes, canisters, containers, trays and related products for storage and transport of highly sensitive electronic products used by many of the world’s leading technology and consumer electronics businesses. Founded in 1999, ePak operates a 600,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Shenzhen, China, along with 40 warehouses and nine sales offices worldwide, and has 1,160 employees.
“ePak’s high quality products have enabled it to become a primary supplier to more than 300 businesses that rely on its advanced packing materials for their complete handling needs during the front end semiconductor fabrication process, and safe transport of IC products at the back end,” says Andrew Oliver, Managing Director, OEP. “We are excited to have identified several acquisition opportunities with CEO Steve Dezso and his management team to further strengthen the Company’s product portfolio, geographic footprint and customer base.”
ePak’s target customer sector continues to grow, with annual silicon wafer shipments increasing for the fourth year in a row through 2017 as semiconductor demand from original equipment manufacturers, automotive and consumer electronic businesses remained strong. Worldwide wafer shipments increased by 10 per cent in 2017 over 2016, while worldwide sales of silicon grew by 21 per cent to USD8.7 billion over USD7.2 billion in 2016.
“OEP’s long track record of partnering with management teams to improve operating efficiencies and drive growth through strategic transactions is well aligned with our vision for growing ePak into an unparalleled market leader in the innovative packing solutions market,” says Steve Dezso, President and CEO of ePak. “Today is an exciting milestone in ePak’s continued evolution, and we look forward to working closer with OEP to further consolidate the fragmented packaging market and gaining additional share as the Company enters its next stage of growth.”
OEP has more than a decade of experience investing in and growing global packaging businesses, and a deep understanding of technology businesses including the semiconductor industry. In October 2017, the firm completed its investment in Sanken North America, a subsidiary of Japan’s Sanken Electric Company that owns Allegro MicroSystems (Allegro) and Polar Semiconductor (Polar). Allegro manufactures high-performance sensors and related devices, while Polar is a manufacturer of silicon wafers.
