Posted Tuesday, December 5, 2017 9:15 pm

DALTON — A Connecticut-based diversified manufacturer of highly engineered industrial products has signed an agreement to purchase Crane Currency for $800 million, according to financial wire reports.

One of Berkshire County's oldest and largest employers, Crane Currency has supplied currency paper to the U.S. government since 1879, and has been the sole supplier since 1964. Founded in 1801 in Dalton, Crane Currency more recently has become a pioneer in micro-optic security technology, and a fully integrated supplier of secure, highly engineered banknotes for central banks across the world.

The firm moved its global headquarters to Boston in 2012, but still maintains its currency manufacturing operations in Dalton.

Crane Co. of Stamford, Conn., announced Tuesday that it has signed an agreement to purchase 100 percent of the equity interests in Crane Currency from private equity firm Lindsay Goldberg, members of the Crane family, and other shareholders for $800 million on a cash free and debt free basis.

The transaction is contingent upon regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions, and is expected to close early in the first quarter of 2018. Crane Co. intends to finance the acquisition through a combination of cash on hand and additional debt. Commitments are in place to cover 100 percent of the financing needs in order to facilitate the closing of the transaction. A conference call to discuss the transaction in greater detail is scheduled to take place at 8 a.m. Wednesday.

Crane Currency is expected to have 2017 sales of approximately $500 million with adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of $94 million. These criteria, known as EBITDA, are used to measure a company's operating performance.

"We are extremely excited to announce this transaction, which will be Crane Co.'s second largest ever, and brings together two companies with nearly 380 years of combined history," said Crane Co. CEO Max Mitchell in a statement. "Crane Currency is the fastest growing, fully integrated global currency provider in the growing global banknote supply and security industry. Making it part of Crane Co. is a logical extension of our expanding presence in the currency and payment markets. Our combined businesses will be able to offer end-to-end currency and security solutions, from substrate manufacturing and banknote design and printing to micro-optics and banknote validation."

A publicly traded company founded in 1855, Crane Co. provides products to customers in the hydrocarbon processing, petrochemical, chemical, power generation, unattended payment, automated merchandising, aerospace, electronics, transportation and other markets. It has approximately 11,000 employees in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia.