Helios Technologies to Open the Helios Center of Engineering Excellence with Acquisition of BJN Technologies

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  • Acquisition enables technology to be leveraged across the enterprise to increase penetration of existing Helios end markets and expand to new industrial end markets
  • New appointments announced to manage the Helios Center of Engineering Excellence

SARASOTA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Helios Technologies (Nasdaq: HLIO) (“Helios” or the “Company”), a global leader in highly engineered motion control and electronic controls technology for diverse end markets, announced today that it has acquired substantially all of the assets of BJN Technologies, LLC (“BJN”), an innovative engineering solutions provider. With the acquisition, Helios has formed its Center of Engineering Excellence (HCEE) to augment and coordinate Helios’s technology advancements and new product development and better leverage existing talents with the acquired capabilities of BJN. Helios funded the acquisition through a combination of cash and equity.

“The acquisition of BJN and establishment of our Center of Engineering Excellence greatly enhances our ability to integrate complementary technology across the company. The capabilities and experience of the BJN team allows us to further advance our Vision 2025 strategy by executing on the value streams focused on product and technology expansion and market diversification. We are confident in the team’s engineering capability and, in fact, have been working with them for several years,” commented Josef Matosevic, the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Combined with our recent addition of Balboa’s complementary technology to our Electronics solutions, this acquisition enables us to strategically expand our product portfolio in existing and new end markets first in the electronics segment and then throughout all of Helios. We welcome the BJN team to the Helios family and are excited about the opportunities ahead.”

BJN is an employee-owned innovative engineering solutions provider that was founded in 2014. It provides customized turnkey solutions encompassing embedded software, wireless electronics and manufacturing in the defense, motion control and manufacturing industries, and has been an engineering service provider to Helios for several years. Headquartered in San Antonio, TX, BJN employs approximately 15 engineers and technical staff. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

The leadership team from BJN has joined Helios and will run the day to day operations of the HCEE. Doug Conyers, who served as BJN’s CEO, has been named Vice President, HCEE. The founders of BJN, the Kaufmann brothers, have additionally joined the HCEE leadership team. Jonathan Kaufmann has been named Chief Engineer, Design, Benjamin Kaufmann has been named Chief Engineer, R&D and Nicholas Kaufmann has been named Chief Engineer, Innovation. These four leaders bring over 70 years of combined professional experience to Helios in the engineering disciplines of electrical and software systems, simulation, embedded circuitry, and mechanical and testing design.

The Helios Center of Engineering Excellence will report to Rick Martich, who was recently appointed Senior Vice President of Global Manufacturing Operations for Helios. He has over 25-years of leadership experience in engineering, manufacturing, finance and sales.

About Helios Technologies
Helios Technologies is a global leader in highly engineered motion control and electronic controls technology for diverse end markets, including construction, material handling, agriculture, energy, recreational vehicles, marine, health and wellness. Helios sells its products to customers in over 85 countries around the world. Its strategy for growth is to be the leading provider in niche markets, with premier products and solutions through innovative product development and acquisition. The company has paid a cash dividend to its shareholders every quarter since becoming a public company in 1997. For more information please visit: www.heliostechnologies.com.

Forward Looking Information
This news release contains “forward‐looking statements” within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward‐looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. They include statements regarding current expectations, estimates, forecasts, projections, our beliefs, management’s plans, projections and objectives for future operations, scale and performance, integration plans and expected synergies therefrom, the timing of completion of the proposed transaction, and assumptions made by Helios Technologies, Inc. (“Helios” or the “Company”), its directors or its officers about the Company and the industry in which it operates, and assumptions made by management, and include among other items, (i) the Company’s strategies regarding growth, including the expected benefits of the Acquisition; (ii) the timing of completion of the Acquisition; (iii) Company’s financing plans with respective to the funding of the Acquisition; and; (iv) objectives for future operations, integration plans and expected synergies. Words such as “may,” “expects,” “projects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “seeks,” “estimates,” variations of such words, and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Similarly, statements that describe our future plans, objectives or goals also are forward-looking statements. These statements are not guaranteeing future performance and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. Our actual results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in such forward-looking statements, and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. All forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in such forward‐looking statements include, but are not limited to, failure to promptly and effectively integrate the Acquisition; objectives for future operations, integration plans and expected synergies; the ability to recognize the anticipated benefits of the Acquisition, which may be affected by, among other things, competition, and the ability of the combined business to grow and manage growth profitably; failure to promptly and effectively integrate the Acquisition; risks related to disruption of management time from ongoing business operations due to the Acquisition; and the ability of Helios to retain and hire key personnel, and maintain relationships with suppliers. Further information relating to factors that could cause actual results to differ from those anticipated is included but not limited to information under the heading Item 1. “Business” and Item 1A. “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 28, 2019 and Part II, Item IA, “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 28, 2020 and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Tania Almond
VP, Investor Relations & Corporate Communications
(941) 362-1333
tania.almond@HLIO.com

Deborah Pawlowski
Kei Advisors LLC
(716) 843-3908
dpawlowski@keiadvisors.com

Source: Helios Technologies

Released January 21, 2021