Industrial Physics, the KKR-backed packaging, material, and coating test and measurement group, has acquired Vitrek, a Lockport, Illinois-based maker of electronic test and precision measurement equipment, from Branford Castle Partners' Fund I. The deal was announced August 26, 2026 and completed the following day. It brings Vitrek's namesake brand along with subsidiaries MTI Instruments and GaGe into the Industrial Physics portfolio. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The Vitrek family of brands covers electrical safety testing equipment, power analyzers, high-voltage measurement, signal conditioning, high-speed data acquisition, semiconductor metrology, and jet engine vibration balancing systems built for military and commercial applications, sold into aerospace, defense, semiconductor, and medical device manufacturing. Engineers in those sectors will care that the deal folds a supplier of purpose-built electrical and vibration test gear into a group whose prior strength was packaging, materials, and coatings testing, broadening Industrial Physics' bench well beyond its traditional markets.
Industrial Physics now operates 12 specialist brands across 19 industries in 75 countries. CEO Andrew McCauley called Vitrek "an excellent addition," pointing to its "highly differentiated technologies and deep technical expertise." Vitrek CEO Don Millstein said joining Industrial Physics gives the company "the resources and reach to grow faster in the markets we serve," while Vitrek President Todd Stukenberg said customers should expect the same product and service standards under the new ownership.
For Branford Castle, the sale is its fifth exit and closes out its third investment from Fund I. The firm said Vitrek integrated three add-on acquisitions and professionalized its sales and marketing operations during its ownership. KKR, which backs Industrial Physics, plans to extend its broad-based employee ownership program to all of Vitrek's staff, a scheme that has distributed billions of dollars in equity to more than 200,000 non-senior employees across over 90 KKR portfolio companies since 2011.
