Billionaire Tom Gores’ Beverly Hills-based Platinum Equity has agreed to sell PCI, an electronics manufacturing services provider based in Singapore, to a Canadian buyer for $306m in cash.

The deal to sell PCI to Celestica Inc., a Toronto-based manufacturing and supply chain solutions business, is expected to close before the end of the year.

PCI is the first sale of a business by Platinum Equity in several months since it dropped more than $17bn to buy an assortment of businesses ranging from New York-based education publisher McGraw Hill to Irvine-based Ingram Micro Inc., a technology distribution business.

PCI has six manufacturing and design facilities across Asia. It serves diverse end-markets including the automotive, industrial equipment, commercial, consumer and lifestyle, and medical sectors.

Platinum acquired PCI in April 2019.

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A global investment firm with more than $25bn of assets under management, Platinum was founded in 1995 by Gores. The firm is investing from two funds: a $10bn global buyout fund, and a $1.5bn buyout fund focused on investment opportunities in companies that generate up to $50 million in annual revenue.

Gores’ private equity firm has made a number of big-name acquisitions over the past three months.

In July, it agreed to buy Wilmington, Del.-based water treatment company Solenis in a deal valued at $5.25bn from German chemical giant BASF and New York City-based private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice.

In mid-June, Platinum Equity agreed to buy educational publisher McGraw Hill from affiliates of Apollo Global Management Inc. for $4.5bn.
Founded in 1888, McGraw Hill is among the largest educational publishers in the world.

Also in June, Platinum Equity agreed to buy a controlling stake in La Vergne, Tenn.-based SVP-Singer Holdings Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary, SVP Worldwide, the world’s largest consumer sewing machine company.

In July, Platinum Equity completed its purchase of Ingram Micro in a deal valued at $7.2bn. The private equity giant picked up Ingram from a subsidiary of Chinese aviation and shipping conglomerate HNA Group Co. Ltd.

In the past month, Platinum Equity has also picked up Petmate, an Arlington, Texas-based maker of pet products; Datalot Inc., a New York City-based digital marketing company for the insurance industry; and Achieve3000 Inc., a Red Bank, N.J.-based instruction and learning company for pre-kindergarten through 12th grade.

Source: Los Angeles Business Journal

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