GRAND ISLAND, Neb. — Kriz-Davis Co. has entered into an agreement to acquire Chapman Metering, LLC in Avoca, IA from Western Ventures, Inc. a subsidiary of Nishnabotna Electric Cooperative in Harlan, IA and Larry Chapman. The closing date for this acquisition will be April 1, 2015. Chapman Metering, LLC currently employs 17 employees.
The company will continue to operate as Chapman Metering, LLC and will be a division of and a wholly owned subsidiary of Kriz-Davis Co. with the current leadership, headed up by Larry Chapman, remaining in place. It will draw upon the various resources and benefits Kriz-Davis is able to offer, including the employees becoming a part of the employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). There will also be expanded services available into the future as a part of the agreement.
Chapman Metering was established 55 years ago by Lawrence A. Chapman as a watt-hour meter testing service and has grown to provide services in the public power market to over 500 clients in 17 different states with more than 100,000 meters serviced per year. Today, the company is regarded as one of the premier service providers in the utility metering industry.
“This is an exciting time for Chapman Metering. With this change, our company is now positioned to offer more extensive services than we ever have and will remain successful for many years to come,” said Larry Chapman, general manager of Chapman Metering LLC. “Our current and future customers will continue to enjoy the same high level of service we are committed to providing; they will just see a broader offering of services for us to meet their needs.”
Tim Berry, President & CEO of Kriz-Davis Co. said, “With our business philosophies being very closely aligned already, this is an excellent opportunity for both companies to diversify our business models and better serve our public power customers. We will immediately have an in-house solution for advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) deployments as well as other system automation offerings. With Larry’s expertise in the industry, we’ll only keep growing from there.”