Ives Equipment Corporation has been sold to Motion & Control Enterprises

Livingstone is pleased to announce the sale of Ives Equipment Corporation (“Ives” or the “Company”) to Motion & Control Enterprises (“MCE”), a portfolio company of Frontenac. Livingstone acted as the exclusive financial advisor to the Company. The transaction closed in June 2024, and its terms were not disclosed.

Founded in 1954 and based in King of Prussia, PA, Ives is a valued-added distributor of process valves and instrumentation solutions throughout eastern and central Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, southern New Jersey, Washington DC, and Virginia. Ives serves diverse end markets, including industrial gas, federal and defense, engineering and construction, food manufacturing, and pharma & biotech.

Founded in 1951, MCE is a supplier of technical fluid power, automation, flow control, compressed air products, filtration, service, and repair solutions. MCE serves more than 30,000 OEM and end-user customers from 54 facilities located in 16 states.

Frontenac is a Chicago-based private equity firm. The firm focuses on investing in lower middle market buyout transactions in the consumer, industrial, and services industries. Frontenac works in partnership with established operating leaders through an executive-centric approach called CEO1ST, which seeks to identify, acquire, and build market-leading companies through transformational acquisitions and operational excellence. Over the last 50+ years, Frontenac has built a franchise working with over 300 owners of mid-sized businesses as they address complex transition issues of liquidity, management enhancement, and growth planning.

Ives engaged Livingstone to run a sale process to identify and secure a transaction with the best strategic partner that shared the Company’s commitment to delivering value to its suppliers and customers. Terry Ives, President of Ives, commented, “We are thrilled to have found a world-class partner in MCE to carry on Ives’ legacy. I couldn’t be more pleased with the first-class representation we received from the Livingstone team. They crafted a tailored transaction process and managed it every step of the way, yielding an outstanding result.”

Partner and Industrial Technology leader Andrew Isgrig at Livingstone, commented; “Terry and his team have built a differentiated platform in the MidAtlantic distribution market for process valves and instrumentation solutions by offering a broad portfolio of high-quality products from blue-chip OEMs via a highly technical, experienced sales team. It was a pleasure representing the Ives team on this transaction, and we are excited for their future with MCE.”  

Managing Director Patrick Hopkins at Livingstone, commented; “The Ives transaction represents another successful outcome for a value-added distributor client. Our understanding of the product set and dynamics to drive value enabled us to run a highly competitive process. This is Livingstone’s Industrial Technology Team’s sixth recent industrial distribution transaction.”

Archer & Greiner served as legal counsel to Ives. Winston & Strawn served as legal counsel to MCE.