Kaman Industrial Technologies to acquire Zeller Corporation

Kaman Corporation has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the assets of Zeller Corporation by its subsidiary Kaman Industrial Technologies Corporation (KIT).  The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.  

  Zeller Corporation is a value-added distributor of electrical and automation components and solutions, including motion control, programmable logic controller (PLC) based automation, machine vision, electrical controls and power distribution products.  A premier Schneider Electric distribution partner, Zeller also represents other quality manufacturers including Kollmorgen, Phoenix Contact, Rittal and Sick. Zeller employs 240 people, including 60 degreed engineers, and has operations in Rochester, Syracuse and Buffalo, N.Y.; Foxboro, Mass.; and Winston-Salem, N.C. Zeller expects full year 2012 sales of approximately $80 million.

Neal J. Keating, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Kaman Corporation, said in a statement, “The acquisition of Zeller Corporation is a very exciting addition for Kaman and our KIT distribution business – it extends and expands our automation and motion control product segment to include electrical controls and power distribution.  Further, it demonstrates our commitment to growing our distribution network, enhancing our value-add solutions capabilities, and complementing our strong mechanical and fluid power product platforms.  We are also excited to welcome the strong management team and workforce at Zeller, led by Gary Haseley to the Kaman family. The Zeller team will enhance our ability to serve our customers and will bring a number of new tools and capabilities to the Kaman organization.”  

Gary Haseley, president, Zeller Corporation said, “We are very enthusiastic about the opportunity to become part of the Kaman distribution and solutions team.  We believe Zeller’s deep engineering expertise coupled with Kaman’s broad national reach will combine to create an outstanding solution for our customers, while driving growth opportunities for our suppliers and employees. With more than 50 years of experience providing superior electrical products and engineered solutions to our customers, we will now also have the ability to satisfy their mechanical power transmission requirements.”

Steve Smidler, president of KIT, added, “We are also very pleased to have Gary Haseley staying with Kaman and joining our KIT executive management team as Zeller’s Vice President and General Manager, reporting to me. Zeller complements and strengthens our recent acquisitions of Minarik, Target Electronic Supply and Automation Technology and is illustrative of our overall expansion strategy to further increase our electrical, automation and motion control footprint.”