Bel Fuse to acquire ECS from Emerson for $98m

Dan Bernstein, Bel's president, said, "This is Bel's third major acquisition in the past 14 months; all together, these acquisitions will increase our revenue from $283 million, pre-acquisition, to approximately $705 million annually. We are proud that Emerson Inc., ABB Ltd. and TE Connectivity Ltd., have determined in the best interest of their shareholders, customers and employees to entrust these businesses to Bel and we look forward to growing these organizations."

ECS is headquartered in Bannockburn, Illinois, and has manufacturing facilities in North America, the U.K. and China, with a total of 525 employees world-wide. ECS is a leading provider of High-performance RF/Microwave and Harsh Environment Optical Connectors and Assemblies for military, aerospace, wireless communications, data communications, broadcast and industrial applications. ECS has a global sales footprint and a diverse customer base that includes some of the world's largest manufacturers coupled with an extensive distribution network populated with today's premier electronic distributors. The ECS division is comprised of the following brands Stratos optical technologies, Johnson, Trompeter, Midwest Microwave, Semflex, Vitelec Electronics, AIM Electronics and Cambridge Products.

Bernstein added, "The acquisition of ECS is a major step forward in our strategy to expand into the aerospace and military markets where long term product reliability resulting from highly engineered solutions is a key. The addition of the ECS Stratos brand with our Fibreco/Gigacom Interconnect products will give us an industry leading position in the Expanded Beam Fiber Optic market place. The ECS group also significantly expands our copper-based product offering with the addition of RF/Microwave connectors and assemblies. Bel is eagerly anticipating the many growth opportunities that will be created through this transaction, and we look forward to continuing to build an industry leading high reliability interconnect business with our new colleagues at ECS."

Bel has obtained a commitment for financing provided by KeyBank National Association that, combined with available liquidity, is sufficient to fund the acquisition. Needham & Company, LLC is serving as exclusive financial advisor, KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc. is serving as debt advisor, and DeCotiis, FitzPatrick & Cole, LLP is acting as Bel's legal counsel in the transaction