Castle Harlan Completes Sale of Ion Track to GE
NEW YORK, Oct. 15, 2002 - Castle Harlan, Inc., the New York private-equity investment firm, announced today it had completed the sale of Ion Track, Inc., a leading manufacturer of devices that detect trace amounts of explosives and drugs, to GE Industrial Systems, a division of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Ion Track's trace detection systems are widely used for airport security and for security at other high-threat facilities such as embassies, military posts and prisons. Some of the company's systems are unique in that they can simultaneously detect traces of drugs and explosives and thus provide the broadest possible range of contraband substance detection.
Castle Harlan Partners III, L.P., a $630 million private-equity investment fund organized and managed by Castle Harlan, acquired a controlling interest in Ion Track in early 2000. Ben Sebel, a Castle Harlan vice president, led the team that negotiated the sale of the company to GE. Ion Track is based in Wilmington, Massachusetts.
Castle Harlan was founded in 1987 by John K. Castle, former president and chief executive officer of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, Inc., and Leonard M. Harlan, former chairman of The Harlan Company, a real estate investment and advisory firm. Since its inception, Castle Harlan has made investments through its funds totaling more than $5 billion. For more information, see the website at www.castleharlan.com.
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