FTS, a leading manufacturer of fire weather and remote environmental monitoring solutions, joins the AE Monitoring family of companies.
VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA – January 2, 2019. Union Park Capital, a Boston based private equity firm focused on lower middle-market industrial technology investments, today announced the acquisition of Forest Technology Systems, Ltd. (“FTS”), based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. FTS is a leading manufacturer of remote environmental monitoring solutions including systems, instrumentation, telemetry and software for the Hydrology, Fire Weather and Meteorology industries. The business will join Union Park’s Advanced Environmental Monitoring Holdings platform (“AE Monitoring”), which was launched in March 2018. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
“FTS is an exceptional addition to the AE Monitoring family,” says Peter McGuire, Partner & Co-Founder at Union Park Capital. FTS is the world leader in environmental monitoring solutions for predicting, preventing, and managing wildfires. FTS stations are used by all the top 50 government forest management agencies in the United States and Canada. “Their technical capabilities and deep application knowledge are unmatched,” said Peter. In addition to fire weather, FTS designs, manufactures and services sensors, dataloggers, camera systems, IoT software and mobile applications.
“Joining AE Monitoring is a great opportunity for FTS,” says FTS CEO David Reid. “Our mission will continue to be making our customers successful in their efforts to monitor, record, and analyze changes in the natural environment.” Mr. Reid will continue as CEO after the acquisition as will the entire FTS management team. “This is great news for our customers, employees and sales network. AE Monitoring provides us a platform to accelerate growth and deliver a broader solution set to our customers.”
About FTS Forest Technology Systems, Ltd.
FTS was founded in 1980 with a focus on the fire weather meteorological niche. Since then, FTS has become a leading manufacturer of remote environmental monitoring systems, instrumentation and communications technology for the Hydrology, Fire Weather and Meteorology industries. FTS is the world leader in environmental monitoring solutions for fire weather. The company’s headquarters, research and design lab, and manufacturing plant are located in Victoria, British Columbia, with a branch office in Blaine, Washington. For more information, visit www.ftsinc.com.
About Advanced Environmental Monitoring Holdings
Advanced Environmental Monitoring Holdings (AE Monitoring) was formed by Union Park Capital in 2018 to create a family of companies focused on monitoring of critical environmental parameters, including meteorology, hydrology, air, and soil. Social demands for environmental responsibility continue to increase, leading to growing initiatives and regulations for the development of environmentally friendly industries, increased focus on disaster prevention and extreme weather (floods, hurricanes, droughts, thunderstorms, etc.), and advances in technology enabling real-time, more accurate monitoring in hazardous applications and environments. For more information, visit www.aemonitoring.com.
About Union Park Capital
Union Park Capital is a private equity firm solely focused on lower middle-market industrial technology companies. Union Park takes a long-term perspective to help stakeholders build value over time and drives value creation through profitably growing a business, not financial engineering. Union Park Capital is based in Boston, MA, and has extensive investments and expertise in the analytical instrumentation sector. For more information, visit www.union-park.com.