Mission Critical Electronics (MCE), a Huntington Beach-based electric power products maker, said it will reach more market segments with its purchase of Purkeys Fleet Electric, a Lowell, Ark.-based company that focuses on battery-charging technology for the truck market.
“Purkeys has a blue-chip list of customers that operate large, heavy-duty truck vehicle fleets. We get the benefit from those strong relationships,” Mission Critical Chief Executive Kevin Moschetti told the Business Journal.
“We’ll be able to offer those customers a more complete set of solutions than Purkeys by itself has been able to do in the past.”
A Nov. 5 statement announcing the acquisition did not specify a purchase price.
Windjammer Portfolio Co.
It’s the second notable acquisition for MCE in about a year; last December it reported buying Canada’s Xantrex Technology Inc., a power product firm that specializes in serving transportation-related businesses.
Moschetti said he expects annual revenue for MCE “north of” $100 million this year.
MCE designs, manufactures, and distributes electronic power products for a wide variety of uses ranging from trucks to buses, boats, emergency vehicles and mobile communications.
It operates under the brands Kussmaul Electronics, Newmar, ASEA Power Systems, Power Products, American Battery Charging and Xantrex.
The company has more than 200 employees with about 100 in Orange County and the rest in facilities across the country along with a few in Asia.
Private equity firm Windjammer Capital Investors of Newport Beach purchased Mission Critical in 2016.
Mission Critical was founded in 2011 with the combination of Kussmaul of West Sayville, N.Y., and electric power products and accessories maker Newmar of Huntington Beach.
Fleet Operator Focus
Moschetti said Purkeys’ main products include electric charging systems for liftgates, the raise-and-lower truck platforms that are used to load and unload cargo; and inverters that turn battery power into AC power for use in trucks’ sleeping cabs. Purkeys also provides solar power products.
Purkeys works directly with companies that make parts and equipment for trucks, referred to as OEMs, and also works with fleets.
“We do a lot of business with the OEMs of trucks, the Kenworths, and Freightliners and Macks of the world, but we haven’t done that much with the end customers, the fleet operators,” Moschetti said.
“So this gives us a chance to leverage those relationships.”
He said the company’s corporate goal is to meet people’s needs for electric power, “especially in mobile applications.”
