Warburg Pincus, a global private equity firm focused on growth investing, today announced that funds affiliated with the firm have entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Duravant LLC (duravant.com), a global automation and engineered equipment company serving the food processing, packaging and material handling sectors, from a fund managed by Odyssey Investment Partners.

Duravant is a global leader in developing, manufacturing and providing aftermarket support for engineered equipment and automation solutions. The company operates a portfolio of market-leading brands that serve the global food processing, packaging and material handling sectors including: Afoheat, Arpac, Fischbein, FMH Conveyors, Hamer-Fischbein, Mespack and Marlen International. Duravant serves customers and partners in over 190 countries worldwide, across sectors including food and beverage, e-commerce, agriculture, household goods, pharmaceuticals, distribution, and industrials.

"We are very pleased to partner with Warburg Pincus and look forward to leveraging their deep experience and exceptional network of resources to accelerate our growth strategy," says Mike Kachmer, CEO of Duravant. "We also want to thank Odyssey for their partnership and insights, which have contributed greatly to the transformation that has occurred over the past few years."

"Duravant has built a world-class portfolio of market-leading automation solutions in a variety of attractive end markets. We see meaningful opportunity to continue expanding the platform and look forward to partnering with Mike and the Duravant leadership team in this next phase of growth," sayss Jeff Goldfaden, managing director, Warburg Pincus.

"Duravant aligns well with our strategy of partnering with talented management teams and our industrials focus on highly engineered machinery and components businesses serving growing niche markets," adds Dan Zamlong, managing director, Warburg Pincus.

Craig Staub, managing principal at Odyssey Investment Partners, says, "We are proud of our investment in Duravant and our partnership with Mike Kachmer and his management team. The company is well positioned for the future and we wish the entire Duravant team continued success." 

Dennis Moore, managing principal at Odyssey Investment Partners, comments, "Under our ownership, Duravant successfully executed on a range of strategic growth initiatives. We are pleased to have worked with the management team to transform the business through organic initiatives, operational improvements and a focused acquisition strategy."

The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2017, subject to customary regulatory approvals.