Union Park Invests In Lafferty Equipment Manufacturing, Lavo Solutions

Union Park Capital (“Union Park”), a Boston-based private equity firm focused on lower middle-market industrial technology investments, announced it has made a majority investment in Lafferty Equipment Manufacturing, Inc. (“Lafferty”) and Lavo Solutions LLC (“Lavo”). Lafferty and Lavo will serve as the core and initial assets in Union Park’s newly created holding company, CFS Technologies LLC (“CFS Technologies”). Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

As experts in chemical dispensing equipment, Lafferty and Lavo provide innovative cleaning and disinfecting solutions to prevent contamination and infection in a wide variety of end-markets. For over 40 years, Lafferty has designed and manufactured high quality products used in the most demanding and challenging chemical cleaning environments with a focus on food processing, food manufacturing, agricultural, and industrial markets.

Lavo was established in 2018 by two industry experts with the goal of bringing data analytics and intelligence to the cleaning and hygiene industry through a suite of connected products. Their IoT solution gives chemical companies and end users increased visibility into their operations, optimizing production, ensuring quality all while reducing costs. Together, with a focus on advanced chemical dispensing technology, Lafferty and Lavo will best solve customer cleaning and disinfecting challenges.  

“We are extremely excited about these acquisitions and the combined growth opportunity,” says Evan Stein, principal at Union Park. “COVID-19 placed a spotlight on the chemical dispensing and industrial cleaning markets as customers are adopting more robust cleaning, disinfection, and hygiene programs. Lafferty’s deep application knowledge, high quality instruments and gold-standard customer service combined with Lavo’s data analytics platform and commercial reach set a strong foundation to increase market share and grow both organically and through targeted acquisitions.”

As part of the transaction, Lavo co-founders Chip McAslan and Campbell Dodson will transition to chief executive officer and chief revenue officer of CFS Technologies. “We are delighted to have brought these two companies together,” McAslan says. “By bringing an increasingly powerful combination of technologies and application know-how, we are advancing our mission of providing a clean and safe environment for our customers. I am excited to assume this new role and to lead the next chapter of growth as a category leader.”

Dodson adds, “There’s a massive opportunity in the market. Partnering with Union Park, a well-capitalized and global industrial technology investment firm, will help our businesses grow organically and inorganically, specifically as we think about serving our customers’ global needs and requirement for high-value insight in their cleaning operations. We are excited to work with Union Park on the next stage of our company’s journey.”