Align Capital Partners’ (ACP) portfolio company Pleatco, a manufacturer of aftermarket cartridge filters for the pool and spa industry, has expanded into the industrial air filtration market with the acquisitions of APEL International (APEL) and Milton Manufacturing (Milton).
APEL designs and manufactures pleated filter cartridges, pleated bags, and other filtration products for mission-critical industrial air applications.
“APEL’s library of more than 5,000 custom and stock filters provide its distribution and OEM customers with the broadest range of aftermarket filtration products in the industry,” says Paul LaCroix, founder of APEL. “I’m excited to continue our legacy as a high-quality manufacturer with industry-best lead times under the Pleatco Filtration brand and platform.” APEL services customers throughout North America from its facility in Louisville, Kentucky.
“The commitment to product quality, customer service, and innovation were key to my decision to partner with Pleatco,” says Dave Brunner, President of Milton Manufacturing. “For over 20 years, Milton has staked its reputation on providing the highest quality spun bond, paper, felt, and pleated bag filters to support our OEM partners for their specialised dust collection needs.” Milton services customers in Canada and the United States from its facility in Milton, Ontario.
Coincident with the acquisitions of APEL and Milton, Rick Von Drehle has joined Pleatco Filtration as CEO.
“The acquisitions of APEL and Milton are core to our strategy at Pleatco Filtration – to build a diversified, aftermarket focused filtration products company with an unwavering commitment to science and innovation,” says ACP Managing Partner Rob Langley. “Rick has been on the board at Pleatco since we invested in 2017, he has a great track-record of building and growing filtration businesses and we look forward to working with Rick and the broader Pleatco team to execute our organic growth initiatives and to further build the Pleatco Filtration platform through acquisitions.”
Pleatco Filtration plans to build out its headquarters and senior management team in Louisville, leveraging a recently completed plant expansion at APEL.
Operating Partner John Dupuy, Vice President Matt Beesley, and Senior Associate Jonathan Vadiee worked alongside Mr. Langley on the transactions.
