FORT WORTH, Texas, July 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Ancor Capital Partners and Merit Capital Partners announced the acquisition of Canada-based Uplift Technologies, a leader in the development, manufacturing and sales of seat-assist and light-therapy medical products. With the acquisition, Uplift Technologies will operate through Carex Health Brands Canada, a division of Boston-based Carex Health Brands. Founded in 1993 in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada, Uplift Technologies offers clinically proven and patented seat-assist and light-therapy products with its Uplift and Daylight brands.

“This marks our second acquisition in the past year for Carex,” said J. Randall Keene, Partner with Ancor and Director of Carex. “Ancor teamed up with Merit Capital approximately two years ago to acquire Carex Health Brands, and our vision was to build the company through both internal growth and acquisitions.”

According to Keene, Ancor previously acquired Detach N’ Go and its product line of Detachable Pill Cases are now marketed through Carex.

“The acquisition of Uplift is a meaningful step in establishing Carex as the leader in home medical products distributed through retail distribution channels,” said Terrance M. Shipp, Managing Director at Merit Capital.

Carex will add the Uplift seat-assist and light-therapy brands to its product lines which include Carex, Apex, Bed Buddy, Thera-Med and Detach N’ Go.

“We were impressed with the innovative nature of the Uplift Technologies products,” said Matt McElduff, President of Carex. “The Uplift seat-assist and light-therapy products are an obvious extension of our category-leading Carex brand. We expect to have an immediate impact on sales by leveraging our extensive sales and logistics network. And we will add their existing products to our current broad base of distribution, while continuing to innovate and expand the Uplift categories under the Carex brand.”

According to McElduff, the brands marketed by Carex have achieved broad customer awareness in the marketplace and are used by home-care patients, the mobility challenged, senior citizens and members of the general public. Carex is the market leader in branded home-medical equipment sold through drug store chains, mass merchants, DME dealers, grocery retailers and online retailers. In addition, Carex offers one of the broadest product lines in hot/cold pain therapy and medication compliance aids. Carex products also are fully stocked with drug wholesalers who service this retail market.

Ancor Capital Partners, based in Fort Worth, Texas, is an operations-oriented private equity firm focused on lower middle-market manufacturing and distribution companies with EBITDA of $5-$15 million. Extensive operational experience gives the Ancor team a unique understanding of the critical business issues faced by lower middle-market companies. Ancor’s proven track record includes 30 acquisitions to date in health care, consumer and other industries.

SOURCE Ancor Capital Partners