Transcat acquires Newark’s calibration services business

ROCHESTER, USA: Transcat Inc., a leading distributor of professional grade handheld test and measurement instruments and accredited provider of calibration, repair and other measurement services, has acquired the calibration services business from Newark, a subsidiary of Premier Farnell PLC, and entered into a strategic alliance whereby Newark will market Transcat’s calibration services to its broad customer base of electronic design engineers, maintenance, repair and operations engineers, and industrial buyers.

Newark has also contracted for Transcat to provide its calibration services for its own test and measurement equipment distribution needs. The asset purchase includes the calibration services assets of Newark’s calibration labs in Aurora, CO (Denver), Chandler, AZ (Phoenix) and Hendersonville, TN (Nashville).

Charles P. Hadeed, president, CEO and COO of Transcat, commented: “We have completed four acquisitions in the last 12 months, three of which, including this acquisition, have expanded our calibration services segment geographic footprint. We now have 17 strategically located Calibration Centers of Excellence. Our strategy is to continue to capture a greater share of the calibration services market that values credible, certified calibrations by augmenting organic growth with acquisitions specifically targeting areas that extend our reach or are within our current geographic markets where we can consolidate services and gain scale.”

Gert Labuschagne, president of Newark/element14, said: “We are excited to enter into this arrangement with Transcat for a number of reasons. First and foremost, Transcat has an excellent reputation for the provision of the high quality calibration service that our customers demand and deserve. This alliance also fits well with our strategy to provide a comprehensive offering of components, design tools, software and services to our growing electronic design engineering customer base, as well as serving the needs of our maintenance, repair and operations engineer customers.

“This enhanced calibration service proposition will be delivered through a multi-channel approach including our element14 design engineering community with the knode, which supports the complete design flow from concept to final production, Newark.com, field sales and our state-of-the-art sales center. Finally, we are pleased that the arrangement provides for continuing employment and professional growth for all of our former calibration services employees with a company which, like Newark, places high value on employee engagement and satisfaction.”

Hadeed concluded: “We value Newark’s recognition of Transcat as a premier provider of quality calibrations services. We believe that partnering with Newark, both as Newark’s exclusive provider of certain calibration services and through our strategic sales and marketing alliance, is an excellent demonstration of the value we create by delivering precise, reliable, and fast calibration and repair services across the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. We plan to leverage our combined sales and marketing resources and expanded base of calibration laboratories to provide our customers with the conveniences associated with our ever-growing local market presence, together with the confidence and consistency of quality of services supplied by our trained and certified technicians and extensive quality control processes accredited by the National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP).”

Transcat paid $3.0 million in cash for the acquisition.