Chelton Avionics Acquires ACR

May 12, 1999. Chelton Avionics, Inc. announced today the acquisition of ACR Electronics, Inc., located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. ACR is a world leader in the design and manufacture of search and rescue equipment used in the marine and aviation environments.

ACR's major product range of radio beacons include the EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons) and the ELT (Emergency Locator Transmitter) which, when activated, transmit an emergency signal via a satellite link to the search and rescue authorities. The emergency signal transmitted by the equipment contains identification and accurate positioning information that allows for rapid response by rescue team elements.

ACR also designs and manufactures associated products for military, aviation, and personal use to include locator beacons, VHF survival radios, rescue/safety lights, life vest lights, landing lights, searchlights, and hazard marker lights.

ACR operates a 56,000 square foot, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Fort Lauderdale, Florida which employs 200 people. The company has been owned by North American Fund II, which purchased ACR in 1989 when ACR was a much smaller company. North American Fund II is a partnership of institutional investors with offices in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Chicago, Illinois that specializes in acquiring small businesses and developing them into substantially larger enterprises. Investors in the fund include North American Company Ltd., Ameritech's pension trust, The University of Texas System's endowment funds, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and American Family Mutual Insurance Company. North American Fund II structures its investments to achieve returns for its investors over a ten-year time frame, according to Charles Palmer, its President and Chief Executive Officer.

Mr. Palmer said, "Our management team has over sixty years of combined experience in managing and financing small businesses, thus creating significantly larger enterprises. I'm terribly sorry to lose ACR but we had an obligation to our investors to give them profitable returns at this time. But Chelton Avionics is a perfect fit for ACR. It should be an excellent marriage."

Chelton Avionics, Inc. is headquartered in Prescott, Arizona and is a subsidiary of Chelton Ltd., located in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, England. ACR joins five other companies in becoming part of the Chelton Avionics Group. They include Northern Airborne Technologies, Kelowna, British Columbia; Comant Industries, Sante Fe Springs, California; Wulfsberg Electronics, Prescott, Arizona; ARTEX, Inc., Canby, Oregon; and Chelton Inc., Lewisville, Texas.

Chelton, in turn, is part of Cobham plc. Cobham plc, a publicly traded group of companies (LNDN: COB) headquartered in Wimborne, England, designs and manufactures equipment, specialized systems and components primarily for use within aerospace, defense, industrial and communications markets and also operates, maintains, and modifies aircraft, particularly in relation to special mission flight operations.

The addition of ACR to the Chelton Avionics Group adds yet another technical and manufacturing ability to the extensive system offering available from the combined companies of Chelton Avionics, Inc.