Everest Electronic Equipment Agrees to Be Purchased

Electronic equipment cabinetry maker Everest Electronic Equipment has signed an agreement to be acquired by Applied Power Inc.

The Milwaukee-based company said it will pay $52 million cash for Everest, which will remain in Orange County under its present management, headed by President Terry Wells. The acquisition is expected to close by early October.

Everest, a 36-year-old company with about $45 million in annual sales, has 425 employees at its headquarters and factories in Anaheim and Garden Grove and 50 workers at a small plant in New Hampshire.

Everest is growing, and there are no plans to reduce its work force, said Robert C. Arzbaecher, Applied’s chief financial officer.

It will continue operating as the Everest Electronic unit of Applied Power but will be integrated with Applied Power’s Wright Line unit. Wright Line makes custom furniture for housing technical equipment. Its products typically are used in computer and engineering labs, Arzbaecher said.

Applied, with about $530 million in annual sales, has 3,000 employees in three separate business segments. About 30% of its work force and 40% of its sales are in overseas operations. In addition to its electronic equipment furniture, the company makes industrial and electrical tools and hydraulic and vibration control components and systems.

Everest has been supplying Wright Line with private label products for the past year, and Applied Power sees the acquisition as an opportunity to offer customers a broader line of electronic enclosures.

The combined Wright Line and Everest sales volume is expected to be approximately $170 million for the fiscal year ending Aug. 31, 1997.