May River Capital Formalizes Executive Resource Group; Announces Partnership with P&L Leader Rahul Deshmukh

CHICAGO, June 29, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Chicago-based private equity firm, May River Capital announced today that it has formed May River ERG, LLC ("May River ERG"), an affiliate of May River's management company, May River Capital, LLC. The new affiliate will comprise certain members of May River's Executive Resource Group, its operating partner network. 

In addition, May River ERG announced that it has partnered with Rahul Deshmukh to seek, acquire and build an engineered products and instrumentation platform. Deshmukh has a successful career in senior P&L leadership roles with Dover Corporation, Emerson, and Monsanto, as well as serving as CEO of Flow Dry Technology, Inc. 

May River Capital plans to recruit additional CEOs-in-Waiting to May River ERG over the coming years, as well as certain existing portfolio company CEOs and leadership teams within May River ERG to help leverage proven executives across multiple May River investment platforms.      

Deshmukh has nearly 30 years of leadership experience within a broad range of global industries. He has a proven record of creating value through his strategic acumen and operations expertise. 

Most recently, he was President and CEO of Flow Dry Technology, a former Argosy Private Equity portfolio company sold in 2019. Prior to Flow Dry, Deshmukh served as the President of Sargent Aerospace and Defense as well as President of OPW Fueling Components, both divisions of Dover. Before joining Dover, Deshmukh was Director, Global Marketing & Strategic Planning for Daniel Measurement & Control, Inc., a division of Emerson. 

"Our partnership with Rahul represents a compelling opportunity to pursue an executive-led strategy within the engineered products and instrumentation segments of the lower middle-market industrial complex," said Chip Grace, Partner at May River Capital. 

"As a CEO-in-Waiting within May River ERG, Rahul will be heavily involved in all phases of a new platform investment, which we believe is the most optimal and preferred approach to launching a new platform," Grace added.

"It's been a pleasure collaborating with Rahul over the past nine months and we are pleased to have him formally join our Executive Resource Group, which has attracted experienced operating executives who come from world-class organizations and institutions," said Steve Griesemer, Partner at May River Capital.  

"Rahul will work with our core team to identify and evaluate new opportunities, assist with existing platform investments, and, in the case of this executive-led strategy, take a leadership role in a new platform company," added Griesemer.

"I am excited to partner with May River Capital in the development of a new engineered products and instrumentation platform," said Deshmukh. "My prior experience in rapid transformation of global businesses in the broad industrial segment will be fully leveraged as I partner with May River Capital to identify, acquire and operate a new platform business," he added.

May River Capital is seeking engineered products and instrumentation platform companies with the following characteristics:

• Engineered components, instruments, systems and services whereby the company owns its intellectual property;
• Connected products and instruments within the industrial complex that utilize machine-to-machine communication (M2M) and the Internet of Things (IoT) for enhanced automation, improved communication and remote and self-monitoring;
• Headquartered in North America; and
• Minimum of $10 million in revenue and $3 million of EBITDA;
• Opportunities with less than $3 million in EBITDA will be actively evaluated as potential add-on investments.

May River Capital has successfully executed multiple executive-led strategies, by partnering with:

• Brad Sterner, CEO of sanitary processing, mixing and converting equipment platform, Advanced Material Processing and former CEO of severe-duty valves and actuators platform, Hunt Valve;    
• Rick Weiler, CEO of test & measurement platform, Dickson;
• Chris Stevens, CEO of hygienic flow control equipment platform, Unibloc Pump and former CEO of industrial pumps platform, Industrial Flow Solutions.

ABOUT MAY RIVER CAPITAL
Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, May River Capital is a private equity firm focused on investing in lower middle-market industrial growth companies, including precision manufacturing, engineered products and instrumentation, specialized industrial services and value-added industrial distribution businesses. The firm is investing out of its second institutional fund of approximately $300 million, which was closed in December 2019. For more information, please visit www.mayrivercapital.com.

SOURCE May River Capital