An Irvine design and engineering firm that develops products for medical device and biotech companies has been sold to a larger competitor.
Aubrey Group Inc. will become part of Schaumburg, Ill.-based Sparton Corp. for an undisclosed price.
Sparton plans to keep Aubrey as an independent operation in Orange County, where it employs about 40 workers.
Aubrey has about $8 million in annual revenue and does work for a variety of device makers.
The roster ranges from startups such as WaveTec Vision Systems Inc. in Aliso Viejo, to large, publicly traded companies such as Minnesota-based Medtronic Inc. and St. Jude Medical Inc., Covidien PLC, which operates from Massachusetts but has a tax-friendly headquarters in Ireland, and Carlsbad-based Life Technologies Inc., a unit of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.
Being a part of Sparton gives Aubrey “product development capabilities for the medical and biotech market in Southern California, and it brings Sparton into a region [where] they had not had a location,” said Tom Allen, chief executive of Aubrey.
“By combining our businesses, Sparton and Aubrey have the capability to enter into a new set of customer engagements that allow us to offer product design, product development and product manufacturing more completely under one umbrella,” Cary Wood, Sparton’s chief executive, said in a news release.
Sparton shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SPA. It had annual revenue of $266 million, with $13.6 million in profits in its most recent fiscal year. The company had a recent market value of about $315 million.
It describes itself as a “provider of complex and sophisticated electromechanical devices with capabilities such as concept development, industrial design, engineering, production, distribution, field service and reimbursement.”
Markets, Facilities
Sparton’s major markets are medical and biotechnology; military and aerospace; and the commercial and industrial sectors. It has eight manufacturing facilities and four engineering design centers.
Allen said one advantage of the deal is that Aubrey will be able to use Sparton’s “vast” manufacturing facilities as it serves clients.
“Before this, when we developed a product for a medical company, typically it was transferred somewhere else, to another manufacturer, but we’re now in a position to offer our customers the ability to transfer into a Sparton manufacturing facility, which will cost considerably less,” said Allen, who joined Aubrey in 2010 and is going to remain its general manager and vice president of Sparton.
Aubrey plans to take advantage of other Sparton services, including what Allen called “a very nice marketing department” in order to expand its client base.
“It gives us a breadth into the market that we haven’t had before,” Allen said.
Aubrey used B. Riley & Co., a Los Angeles-based investment bank with an Orange County office, to find a buyer. Catherine Pazemenas, the widow of company founder Vytas Pazemenas, engaged B. Riley, according to Allen.
Pazemenas, who died in 2009, founded Aubrey in 1994 and served as its president, chief engineer and electrical systems engineer.
He had more than 30 years of experience developing medical devices, computer systems and sensors, and designed devices such as blood pumps, ventricular device controllers, infusion pumps, and pulse oximeters.
“Over the years, he worked very closely with the entrepreneurs, the VCs and the universities to develop new technology, and more importantly, develop new companies in Orange County,” Allen said.
Other firms that do work similar to Aubrey include BIT Medtech, a unit of Germany-based Messer Group, which has an office in Irvine.
