Brady Corporation (NYSE:BRC) (“Brady”), a world leader in identification
solutions, announced today that it has acquired Precision Dynamics
Corporation (“PDC”) from Water Street Healthcare Partners, a strategic
private equity firm focused exclusively on the health care industry, in
a cash transaction for $300 million, subject to customary working
capital and post-close adjustments. PDC, with annual sales of
approximately $173 million, is a leader in identification products
primarily for the healthcare market, specializing in patient wristbands,
specialty labels and identification systems used in hospitals to reduce
medical errors and integrate and share patient data.
PDC, founded in 1956, is based in Valencia, Cal., and employs
approximately 1,000 people globally. The company has manufacturing
facilities in Tijuana, Mexico and Port Orange, Fla., and a European
sales office with light manufacturing in Nivelles, Belgium.
PDC’s healthcare wristband and label systems are used by most U.S.
hospitals and reach every touch point in the delivery of patient care,
from admissions to discharge. PDC’s products also meet important patient
safety guidelines of The Joint Commission, FDA, AHA, and HIPAA. In
addition to its primary focus on healthcare identification, PDC also
offers wristband products for the leisure and entertainment industries
and for crowd control and law enforcement utilizing technologies
including RFID, holograms and barcodes. PDC products are sold through a
direct sales force, distributors and system integrators.
“The acquisition of PDC, a leader in the U.S. healthcare identification
space, provides an important anchor position for Brady in the attractive
healthcare market and fits well with our mission to identify and protect
premises, products and people, and our vision to be the market leader in
all of our businesses,” said Brady President and Chief Executive Officer
Frank M. Jaehnert. “PDC’s highly regarded management team comes with
deep experience in the healthcare identification space and has been very
successful in building PDC into the strong business that it is today.
PDC’s large customer base, strong channels to market and broad product
offering together with Brady’s laboratory and people identification
products, deep materials and printer expertise, and global footprint,
make this a very attractive business combination and provide a strong
foundation to build upon PDC’s market leading position.”
Curt Selquist, an operating partner with Water Street and chairman of
PDC stated, “Over the last five years, we expanded and enhanced PDC’s
product development and manufacturing capabilities, and significantly
broadened its portfolio of identification products through strategic
acquisitions. The sale of PDC to such a highly regarded market leader in
identification solutions fulfills our mission of having PDC end up with
a company that continues this mission of long-term profitable growth.”
Excluding one-time acquisition-related costs, Brady expects this
acquisition to be slightly accretive to earnings per diluted share for
the remainder of fiscal 2013, and $0.10 to $0.15 accretive to earnings
per diluted share in the first full fiscal year. The non-recurring
acquisition-related costs are expected to include a one-time, non-cash
tax charge of $25 to $30 million related to the repatriation of cash to
the U.S. in financing this acquisition and $8 to $12 million of other
acquisition-related expenses.
Brady will hold a conference call to discuss this announcement at 7:30
a.m. Central Time on December 31, 2012. Interested parties can listen to
the live Web cast by logging on to www.bradycorp.com.
Brady Corporation is an international manufacturer and marketer of
complete solutions that identify and protect premises, products and
people. Its products help customers increase safety, security,
productivity and performance and include high-performance labels and
signs, safety devices, printing systems and software, and precision
die-cut materials. Founded in 1914, the company has more than 1 million
customers in electronics, telecommunications, manufacturing, electrical,
construction, , medical and a variety of other industries. Brady is
headquartered in Milwaukee and as of July 31, 2012, employed
approximately 6,900 people at operations in the Americas, EMEA and
Asia-Pacific. Brady’s fiscal 2012 sales were approximately $1.32
billion. Brady stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the
symbol BRC. More information is available on the Internet at www.bradycorp.com
or www.pdcorp.com.
Brady believes that certain statements in this news release are
“forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements related to
future, not past, events included in this news release, including,
without limitation, statements regarding Brady’s future financial
position, business strategy, targets, projected sales, costs, earnings,
capital expenditures, debt levels and cash flows, and plans and
objectives of management for future operations are forward-looking
statements. When used in this news release, words such as “may,” “will,”
“expect,” “intend,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “should,”
“project” or “plan” or similar terminology are generally intended to
identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements by
their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain
and are subject to risks, assumptions and other factors, some of which
are beyond Brady’s control, that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements. For Brady, uncertainties arise from the length or severity
of the current worldwide economic downturn or timing or strength of a
subsequent recovery; future financial performance of major markets Brady
serves, which include, without limitation, telecommunications,
manufacturing, electrical, construction, laboratory, education,
governmental, public utility, computer, transportation; difficulties in
making and integrating acquisitions; risks associated with newly
acquired businesses; Brady’s ability to develop and successfully market
new products; changes in the supply of, or price for, parts and
components; increased price pressure from suppliers and customers;
fluctuations in currency rates versus the US dollar; unforeseen tax
consequences; potential write-offs of Brady’s substantial intangible
assets; Brady’s ability to retain significant contracts and customers;
risks associated with international operations; Brady’s ability to
attract and retain key talent; Brady’s ability to maintain compliance
with its debt covenants; technology changes; business interruptions due
to implementing business systems; environmental, health and safety
compliance costs and liabilities; future competition; interruptions to
sources of supply; Brady’s ability to realize cost savings from
operating initiatives; difficulties associated with exports; risks
associated with restructuring plans; risks associated with obtaining
governmental approvals and maintaining regulatory compliance for new and
existing products; and numerous other matters of national, regional and
global scale, including those of a political, economic, business,
competitive and regulatory nature contained from time to time in Brady’s
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including, but not
limited to, those factors listed in the “Risk Factors” section located
in Item 1A of Part I of Brady’s Form 10-K for the year ended July 31,
2012. These uncertainties may cause Brady’s actual future results to be
materially different than those expressed in its forward-looking
statements. Brady does not undertake to update its forward-looking
statements.