ERIKS acquires Lewis-Goetz

ERIKS NV, a Netherlands-based industrial service provider of a variety of industrial products, announced the acquisition of Pittsburgh-based Lewis-Goetz.

"The acquisition of Lewis-Goetz brings ERIKS the perfect growth platform in North America in fabricated hose, gaskets and conveyer belts that we have been looking for. Together with our existing U.S.-based companies, we will now realize some $700 million annual sales with over 1,500 employees; North America is now the single most important market for ERIKS," said Johan Sleebus, chairman of ERIKS executive board.

For the last four years Lewis-Goetz has been owned by private equity firm Audax Group of Boston.

"Audax provided us with critical resources to help with the next stage of our growth," said Jeff Crane, Lewis-Goetz CEO. "We fulfilled our promise to them by putting those resources to work in building a leading distribution business in our space. Now, as we become an important part of a leading global service provider, we know that our future is much brighter for the time we spent with Audax. We could not be more excited about the prospects for the future and we look forward to the important things we will accomplish with Eriks."

Audax acquired a majority interest of Lewis-Goetz in June 2007 and integrated nine add-on acquisitions over the past four years.

"Jeff Crane and his management team did a terrific job working with us to build the company through add-on acquisitions and establishing national footprints across both the U.S. and Canada. These add-on acquisitions enabled Lewis-Goetz to create a broad, strategic footprint and service key national accounts. We wish Jeff and his team continued success," said Geoffrey S. Rehnert, Co-CEO of Audax Group.

Crane added that Audax Group was instrumental in providing "our team with the resources and tools to identify, execute and integrate strategic add-on acquisitions. This add-on acquisition strategy allowed us to grow rapidly and bring nationwide capabilities to our customer and supplier base," he said.

ERIKS consists of more than 60 companies with branches in 25 countries, serving more than 200,000 customers. In 2010, ERIKS generated net sales of $1.6 billion. The company, which supplies fabricated hose, cut gaskets and sealing products, is a wholly owned subsidiary of SHV Holdings N.V., a privately held family company with net sales in 2010 of $23.1 billion.

Specializing in fabricated hose, conveyor belts and sealing products, Lewis-Goetz serves customers in a wide range of industries from 86 locations throughout North America.

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