We advised Pon on the transaction

Davis Polk advised Pon on the sale of its W&O business and related flow control businesses to MiddleGround Capital. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Pon is a privately held, Netherlands-headquartered industrial conglomerate with over 16,500 employees and operations around the world, including in Europe, the United States and the Asia Pacific region. The W&O business is a distributor of technical flow control products and solutions to the global military and commercial maritime markets. Pon’s Setpoint and A-T Controls businesses were also sold in the transaction. Setpoint is a distributor of valves, actuators and instrumentation to, primarily, the chemical and downstream energy markets. A-T Controls designs and manufactures valves, actuators and process control accessories for a broad range of industrial markets.

Based in Kentucky and founded in 2018, MiddleGround Capital is a mid-market private equity firm that makes control investments in industrial and specialty distribution businesses.

The Davis Polk corporate team included partner Michael Davis and associate Greg Travers. Partner Corey M. Goodman, counsel Elina Khodorkovsky and associate Kendra Simpson provided tax advice. Executive compensation advice was provided by partner Adam Kaminsky. Partner Frank J. Azzopardi provided intellectual property advice. Counsel David A. Zilberberg provided environmental advice. The finance team included partner J.W. Perry and counsel Jack Orford. Members of the Davis Polk team are based in the New York, Washington DC and Northern California offices.

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