Inflexion is pleased to announce that it has made a majority investment in Detectortesters and System Distributors, Inc (“SDi”), which going forward will operate together as the leading global manufacturer of fire detector testing equipment.

Rick Heffernan, a long-term member of the SDi team who also sits on the board of directors of the Automatic Fire Alarm Association as its current President, will continue to lead SDi in the distribution of Detectortesters products across the Americas. The investment is being made by Inflexion Buyout Fund V.

Detectortesters established a joint venture with SDi in 2001 to oversee the North and South American sales and associated product support. Based in New Jersey, SDi operates a service centre providing re-calibration, maintenance, and repair services for fire detection testing equipment. Founded over 50 years ago, Detectortesters designs and produces solutions that enable testing of smoke, heat, and CO fire detectors. The company conducts all new product development in-house, working with all the major fire detector OEMs, fostering efficiency as well as proprietary innovation.

Inflexion will support the global management team at Detectortesters and SDi to continue product innovation, drive revenue growth through pricing strategies and sales channel optimisation, whilst accelerating international growth, particularly in the Americas region.

Rick Heffernan, President at SDi, commented “Detectortesters is currently a very successful, global business and have an exciting roadmap of next-generation testing equipment ahead. With the support of our new partner Inflexion, the SDi team are excited at the prospect of working closer with the Detectortesters team and the future growth opportunities available to us.”

Simon Turner, Managing Partner at Inflexion, commented, “The teams at SDi and Detectortesters have led their respective businesses to be the unequivocal leaders in high growth, regulatory driven markets benefiting from a high-quality offering and strong customer loyalty. The business is well positioned to grow further through geographic expansion and optimising their customer proposition. We look forward to working with this ambitious team.”

For further information, please contact:

Sarah Gestetner

020 7487 9820

sarah.gestetner@inflexion.com

About Inflexion

Inflexion is a leading mid-market private equity firm which invests in high growth, entrepreneurial businesses with ambitious management teams and works in partnership with them to accelerate growth. Inflexion’s flexible approach allows it to back both majority and minority investments, typically investing £10m to £300m of equity in each deal.

With bespoke teams and dedicated capital, Inflexion’s funds invest across a variety of sectors from offices in London, Manchester and Amsterdam. Inflexion helps businesses achieve the next stage of growth through M&A, international expansion, digital enhancement, talent development, commercial strategy, and access to Inflexion’s global networks. It also benefits from a local presence in Bangalore, Boston, São Paulo and Shanghai dedicated to portfolio development, enabling investee companies to benefit from privileged access to these fast-growth markets.

Inflexion is one of Preqin’s most consistent Top Performing Buyout Funds, and is a regular recipient of industry accolades for its success in growing the businesses it backs.

Funds advised by Inflexion Private Equity Partners LLP have funds under management of c.£5.4bn. 

Read more at www.inflexion.com

September 30, 2021