Vance Street and Keltec Complete Strategic Acquisition of AJR Filtration

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Vance Street Capital's ("Vance Street") portfolio company, Keltec Technolab ("Keltec"), today announced the acquisition of AJR Filtration ("AJR"). Founded in 1997, AJR is a family-owned, Chicago-based manufacturer of process liquid and dust collection filtration products. AJR focuses on providing a diverse range of critical consumable filtration solutions across demanding applications.

Headquartered in Hudson, Ohio, Keltec specializes in designing, developing, and manufacturing an extensive array of filtration solutions for compressed air and hydraulic solutions across various industries, including general industrial, pharmaceutical, aerospace, and many others. Keltec's products span from air/oil separators to air filters, oil filters, coalescing filters, hydraulic filters and refrigerated air dryers, all of which are essential in avoiding defects and extending the useful life of critical systems for its customers.

The acquisition of AJR will combine Keltec's expertise in compressed air and hydraulic filtration with AJR's decades-long experience in designing and manufacturing process liquid and dust collection filtration consumables. The combined organization will be a one-stop shop offering a broad portfolio of industrial filtration solutions to a global customer base.

"We're excited to welcome AJR Filtration to the KELTEC portfolio. The acquisition of Swift Filters strengthened our hydraulic filtration capabilities, and now with AJR Filtration, we're expanding our platform into Process Liquid Filtration and Industrial Dust Filtration. Together, we're creating one of the industry's most comprehensive Industrial Filtration portfolios, supported by the strong and longstanding reputation of both companies," said Jean-Paul Scheepens, CEO of Keltec.

"We have tremendous respect for the company the AJR team and its previous owners have built. Our experience in filtration has taught us that the best businesses in this industry are built over decades through technical expertise, trusted customer relationships and an unwavering commitment to quality. We have a strong track record partnering with family-owned businesses, preserving the culture and qualities that made them successful while providing them the resources and support to accelerate their next chapter of growth. We look forward to bringing that same approach to AJR in partnership with Keltec," said Nic Janneck, Partner at Vance Street.

"We are proud to bring Keltec and AJR Filtration together. The combined platform represents one of the largest industrial filtration platforms headquartered in North America, serving critical filtration needs of customers across the globe," said Yousaf Tahir, Principal at Vance Street, and Chuck Hughes, Vice President at Vance Street.

Lincoln International served as financial advisor and Winston Taylor LLP acted as legal advisor to Vance Street. Baird served as financial advisor and Barnes and Thornburg LLP served as legal advisor to AJR. Debt financing for the transaction was provided by Apogem Capital and BMO. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

About Keltec

Keltec is a leading provider of aftermarket filtration components for compressed air, hydraulic, liquid processing, and dust collection solutions. Keltec specializes in designing, developing, and manufacturing an extensive array of consumable filtration solutions for industrial, pharmaceutical, aerospace, and various other industries. Vance Street invested in Keltec in 2024.

About Vance Street Capital LLC

Vance Street is a middle-market private equity firm focused on investing in highly engineered solutions businesses across the medical, life science, industrial technology, and aerospace & defense sectors. Vance Street partners with management teams and family-owned businesses to accelerate growth, improve operations, and acquire strategic assets. For more information, please visit www.vancestreetcapital.com.

Jason Burmer, [email protected]

SOURCE Vance Street Capital