Spotlight

Industrial Safety Technologies

Sector: Industrial Technologies
Stage: Buyout
Location: The Woodlands, Texas
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Taking a page from our “Build a Platform” playbook, the Battery team started to hunt broadly in Industrial Safety for specific sectors that could be ripe for consolidation.
Safety is an appealing investment theme, as it’s an ever-increasing priority in all aspects of business, especially industrial environments. The market continues to grow as applications expand and new standards are adopted. And the customer base tends to be loyal to established brands.
To help build and then run the platform, Battery brought on Adam Markin as an Executive in Residence. Adam is a seasoned executive with many years of industrial safety products experience at Scott Health & Safety, including GM of the $400M global Scott business within Tyco.

Together, Battery and Adam spent a year mapping the market and researching hundreds of companies, finally zeroing in on the gas detection technology segment
They set a goal to consolidate companies in portable gas, fixed gas, open path, flame, and leak detection. The high level of fragmentation in these markets would allow for ample acquisition opportunities and the creation of a powerful, worldwide platform.
Within a year of kicking off the project, Battery acquired portable gas detection leader, UK-based Gas Measurement Instruments (GMI), as the cornerstone of its Industrial Safety Technology (IST) platform, placing Adam at the helm.
3 months later, Battery acquired US-based Detcon, a leader in fixed gas Detection, to complement GMI.

IST now has a worldwide footprint and a complete set of leading portable and fixed gas detection brands for a large and loyal customer base. The company is the market leader in safety technologies used in industrial, military, and first- responder end markets.
With an experienced executive at the helm of a strong platform, revenue and profitability are up, and the hunt continues to find accretive acquisitions to maintain and expand IST’s leadership position.