Ingersoll Rand Inc. has entered into an agreement to acquire ILC Dover from New Mountain Capital, LLC, a private equity firm.
The deal includes an upfront cash purchase price of approximately $2.325 billion and an earnout tied to the achievement of select operating efficiency metrics in 2024.
ILC, headquartered in Newark, provides products for biopharmaceutical, pharmaceutical, and medical device markets as well as the space industry. ILC serves a global customer base across 11 engineering and production facilities in North America, Europe, and Asia, with more than 2,000 employees.
The company is best known as a long-time maker of spacesuits at its Frederica site in Kent County. Until fairly recently its headquarters was in Frederica. The company has since moved its general office to the University of Delaware’s STAR Campus in Newark.
In connection with this acquisition, Ingersoll Rand will establish a life sciences platform within its P&ST segment, consisting of ILC plus Ingersoll Rand’s life science-focused brands including Thomas, Welch, Zinsser Analytic, Tricontinent, Air Dimensions, and ILS.
Corey Walker, ILC President and CEO, will lead the life sciences platform and join the Ingersoll Rand leadership team. The platform will have approximately $700 million in revenue and will enable Ingersoll Rand to further focus its growth and investment in life sciences, a key strategic area for the company.
“This acquisition is the next phase of our long-term vision to expand into higher-growth end markets like life sciences. I am incredibly excited to partner with Corey and the outstanding team at ILC, whom we’ve admired for their innovative products and decades of experience in life sciences, to enhance our presence in key workflows and applications,” said Vicente Reynal, Ingersoll Rand CEO. “We see many opportunities to leverage ILC’s established market positions and brands, including the ability to attach Ingersoll Rand’s existing liquid handling technologies and positive displacement pumps to ILC’s single-use solutions in key biopharma and pharma production processes. Through ILC, we will get access to approximately 1,000 customers in the broader life science and healthcare sectors, where we can leverage our demand generation capabilities to drive incremental growth in other Ingersoll Rand product lines like compressors. Working together, we will continue to drive sustained growth, lead customer value and innovation, and maximize value creation.”
“I am very proud of our team’s passion for innovation, commitment to world-class quality, and overall dedication to our customers during a period of rapid growth,” said Corey Walker, ILC CEO. “I’m excited to combine the Ingersoll Rand and ILC Life Science portfolio of products that allow us to serve our customers from the discovery phase in the laboratory to the commercial production of life saving therapies. ILC Dover’s direct channel access coupled with Ingersoll Rand’s proven growth and efficiency tools will allow us to accelerate our ability to serve customers across their workflows.”
The acquisition is subject to customary regulatory approvals and is expected to close in Q2 2024.
Ingersoll Rand, based in North Carolina has been reshuffling its array of business. It spun off a heating and air-conditioning business into Trane Technologies, a publicly traded company with headquarters operations in Ireland and North Carolina. Trane and other HVAC companies are anticipating strong sales for heat pumps that are now capable of operating in colder climates and can reduce the use of natural gas.
Ingersoll Rand is now focusing on pharmaceutical and other markets served by ILC Dover and its other businesses.
