Berkshire Hathaway’s unit TTI buys third Israeli company: Ray-Q; Deal for aerospace connectivity maker closed seven years after purchase of Iscar

October 7, 2013 Leave a comment

Berkshire Hathaway buys third Israeli company: Ray-Q

Deal for aerospace connectivity maker closed seven years after purchase of Iscar.

By Yisrael Fischer and Ora Coren | Oct. 6, 2013 | 5:00 PM |  2

U.S.-based electronic components distributor TTI is acquiring the Israeli electronics company Ray-Q Interconnect, it announced over the weekend. The financial specifics of the purchase were not disclosed. TTI is wholly-owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. The acquisition still requires approval from Israeli regulatory authorities. This would be Berkshire Hathaway’s third acquisition in Israel, following the 2006 deal to buy blades-maker Iscar for $6 billion all told. (The second tranche of that deal was completed in May of this year.) The Iscar purchase had been Buffett’s first acquisition outside North America. Also in 2006, Berkshire Hathaway unit CTB International acquired a controlling interest in AgroLogic, which develops technology for agriculture.Founded in 1969, Ray-Q is headquartered in Airport City near Lod and currently has about 70 employees. It also maintains branch operations in Turkey and India. The company supplies connectivity equipment to the military and aerospace industries, and also serves as representative and distributor for other connectivity component suppliers in Israel, Turkey, India and Eastern and Central Europe. The deal with TTI is not expected to result in layoffs.

“It’s not often a company has the opportunity to add such longevity and superior technical value to their service offering,” said Gene Conahan, president of TTI Europe and Asia. “I am very pleased to be bringing the wiring and harness assembly expertise of Ray-Q to the TTI teams in Europe and Asia – and to the benefit of our customers worldwide.”

Yigal Funt, Ray-Q’s chief executive officer since 1976, will continue to manage the company after the completion of the purchase.

“On behalf of our associates and customers, I can confidently say that we are most pleased to be joining such venerable organizations as TTI and Berkshire Hathaway,” Funt commented. “We look forward to their support in the globalization of our vision to be a prime supplier of electrical and FO interconnect products and solutions to high reliability system manufacturers.”

 

Berkshire Hathaway unit TTI buys Lod-based Ray-Q

Ray-Q provides electrical interconnect solutions to military, aerospace and other industries.

6 October 13 09:07, Koby Yeshayahou

On Friday, TTI, Inc. an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, announced the acquisition of Lod-based Ray-Q Interconnect. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

Ray-Q was founded in 1969 as a Raychem subsidiary based in Israel with offices in Turkey and India. It provides high quality electrical interconnect solutions to military, aerospace and other high-reliability product industries. TTI is a specialty distributor of passive, interconnect, electromechanical and discrete semiconductor components.

TTI Europe and Asia president Gene Conahan said, “It’s not often a company has the opportunity to add such longevity and superior technical value to their service offering. I am very pleased to be bringing the wiring and harness assembly expertise of Ray-Q to the TTI teams in Europe and Asia and to the benefit of our customers worldwide.”

Ray-Q employs approximately 70 associates and counts among their customers virtually every major defense contractor.

Ray-Q CEO Yigal Funt said, “On behalf of our associates and customers, I can confidently say that we are most pleased to be joining such venerable organizations as TTI and Berkshire Hathaway. We look forward to their support in the globalization of our vision to be a prime supplier of electrical and FO interconnect products and solutions to high reliability system manufacturers.”

Funt will continue to lead the Ray-Q organization and business initiatives while reporting directly to Conahan.

Berkshire Hathaway’s main holding in Israel is precision cutting tools company Iscar, which it bought in two stages, the second of which took place in May this year, for a total of $6 billion.

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