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SFW announces partnership with Caron

SFW Capital Partners, a specialized private equity firm that invests in leading providers of instrumentation, laboratory products, software/information and related solutions, announced Wednesday that it has completed a recapitalization of Caron Products and Services Inc.

Caron is a leading provider of laboratory equipment used in small and large molecule drug development and manufacturing, cell and gene therapy, and academic research.

SFW is partnering in this investment with Caron President and CEO Steve Keiser, and Vice President Dave Figel, who will both continue in their current roles and remain significant shareholders.

With SFW’s strategic support and resources, Caron plans to make significant investments to expand its product portfolio, enhance its sales and marketing function, extend its service capabilities and pursue acquisitions to drive growth.

Founded in 1985, Caron is headquartered in Marietta and is owned by the Christy family and management. It manufactures a line of environmental testing chambers, incubators and growth chambers known for their innovative features, high quality and reliability.

Its products are used for FDA-required quality assurance/quality control stability testing during drug development and manufacturing, incubation in clean-room environments, and growth of samples in academic research.

“We are delighted to build on our success over the last decade and partner with SFW to continue to serve our customers with innovative laboratory products,” said Keiser. “We are looking forward to leveraging SFW’s expertise and resources to help accelerate our product roadmap, enhance service and support infrastructure, and engage even more deeply with existing and new customers.”

“Caron exhibits key characteristics that we look for in laboratory and life sciences tools platform companies: proprietary technology, high value proposition, deep domain expertise and significant opportunities for expansion through organic and inorganic growth,” said Ahmad Sheikh, a partner at SFW, who will be a member of Caron’s board of directors. “We are excited to partner with Steve, Dave, and the entire Caron team and provide them with the resources and capital to support their growth plan and accelerate their trajectory through strategic acquisitions of complementary businesses.”

SFW and its principals have deep experience in supporting the growth and development of leading providers of laboratory instrumentation and equipment, including Essen Bioscience, Micromeritics, Spectro Scientific, Mettler-Toledo, and Waters Corporation.

The relationship between SFW and Caron was initiated through a direct dialogue between both parties.

Neither party worked with a financial advisor to complete the transaction.

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