Thursday, July 19, 2012

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news.casinolife

ACON INVESTMENTS ACQUIRES SUZO-HAPP GROUP

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 01:42 AM PDT

Mount Prospect, IL, July 17, 2012 – The Suzo-Happ Group, a leading global supplier of components and accessories to the Gaming, Amusement and Industrial markets, has been acquired by an affiliate of ACON Investments, L.L.C., a Washington. D.C. based private equity firm.  Pfingsten Partners, the previous private equity owner, will maintain a minority interest along with current management.  The Company will continue to be led by President and CEO James Brendel and other members of the existing management team and staff who will focus on global growth in the Gaming, Amusement and Industrial markets.

James Brendel, President and CEO of Suzo-Happ Group, commented, “The entire management team is excited about our partnership with ACON Investments.   Under this new ownership Suzo-Happ will continue to grow as a global Company and provide quality, value, and satisfaction to our customers, suppliers and employees."

“We are excited to partner with the management of Suzo-Happ Group to build value in a business that is poised for continued growth,” said Ken R. Brotman, Founding Partner of ACON. “The Company has demonstrated solid performance through its long-tenured relationships with its customers and has built a solid foundation, which will ensure Suzo-Happ Group continued success. Customers see value in breadth of product, distribution excellence along with global engineering and manufacturing and we see continued opportunity to expand this concept across multiple end markets and geographies,” added Brotman.

Financing for the transaction is being provided by PNC Bank, N.A., a member of The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: PNC) and Cerberus Business Finance, LLC.

About SUZO-HAPP GROUP The Suzo-Happ Group was formed in 2004 with the merger of Suzo International, headquartered in The Netherlands, and Happ Controls, headquartered in Mount Prospect, IL.  Major additions were made with Advanced Electronic Systems in 2005, Starpoint Electrics in 2006, and Dynamics Chinatec in 2007. The combined organization holds a global leadership position in the gaming and amusement components and accessories market.  The Company's 500 employees serve more than 20,000 customers worldwide.  Suzo-Happ has manufacturing, engineering, distribution and service capabilities in 8 countries globally.  More information is available at www.suzohapp.com

About ACON Investments ACON Investments is a Washington, D.C.-based private equity investment firm that manages private equity funds and special purpose partnerships in the United States and Latin America. Founded in 1996, ACON and its principals have managed over $2.0 billion of capital. ACON pursues a theme-based investment strategy by focusing on industries and businesses at key inflection points in their development and pursues these opportunities in close partnership with established management teams.  ACON has offices in Washington, Los Angeles, Mexico City and Sao Paulo. For more information, visit www.aconinvestments.com

About PNC PNC Bank, National Association is a member of The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. PNC (www.pnc.com) is one of the nation’s largest diversified financial services organizations providing retail and business banking; residential mortgage banking; specialized services for corporations and government entities, including corporate banking, real estate finance and asset-based lending; wealth management and asset management.

About Cerberus Business Finance, LLC Cerberus Business Finance, LLC and Ableco Finance, LLC were formed by the management of Cerberus Capital Management, L.P., to invest in leveraged buyouts and leveraged "roll-ups", bridge loans, recapitalizations, refinancing, debt restructurings, acquisitions and Chapter 11 reorganizations, including debtor-in-possession and exit financing.