Incline Goes with the Flow

Incline Equity Partners has acquired The Conrad Company (TCC), a Pennsylvania-based group of distributors that sell, install and repair the hydraulic, compressed-air and automation equipment that keeps factory machinery moving.

The investment, made in partnership with the company's management team, is the first institutional capital for the business, which has been owned by the family of its founders since 1968.

TCC distributes fluid power, motion control and automation products. The company’s fluid power products use pressurized liquid (hydraulics) or compressed air (pneumatics) to push, lift, clamp or turn machine parts. TCC’s motion control products include cylinders, motors, actuators and controls that make those movements happen precisely and on cue. TCC sells both to equipment makers, which build its components into their machines, and to the plants that run and maintain that equipment.



TCC operates through eight brands. Its original business, PennAir, distributes pneumatic, hydraulic and automation components from suppliers including Festo, ABB and 80/20, and builds aluminum machine framing, conveyors, robotic cells and electrical control panels for manufacturers across the Mid-Atlantic.

GreasePoint installs and services automatic lubrication systems that grease trucks, trailers, excavators and factory machinery while they run, eliminating manual greasing. Compressor Maintenance Co. sells and services air compressors, vacuum pumps and air dryers, the equipment that supplies compressed air to a plant. Allied Hydraulic repairs, rebuilds and retrofits hydraulic pumps, motors and cylinders. Hanover Conveying Systems makes stainless steel conveyors, Capitol Tool machines precision parts, and Valley Fluid Components and CVL Technical Sales provide technical sales and service to manufacturers in Virginia and the wider Mid-Atlantic.



The company’s mix of distribution, fabrication and repair means TCC services much of what it sells. Engineers design and assemble custom systems, and field technicians maintain and rebuild equipment on customer sites, work that keeps TCC in contact with plants long after the initial sale.

York, Pennsylvania-headquartered TCC was founded in 1968 by Jim Conrad and Mary Conrad as Penn-Air Company, operating from a rented garage with just three product lines. It moved into a former downtown fire station in 1973, expanded into Maryland, Washington DC, Northern Virginia and West Virginia in 1988, and acquired Konstance Pneumatics in 2000.

The family's three operating entities were combined under the PennAir name in 2015, and the company moved into its current headquarters of more than 100,000 square feet in 2016. The Conrad Company was formed as a holding company for the group in January 2022.



TCC acquisitions since 2019 include Advanced Lubrication Systems, which became GreasePoint (2019); Hanover Conveying Systems, a Pennsylvania-based maker of stainless steel conveyors (2020); Compressor Maintenance Co., a Maryland-based compressed air equipment provider (2021); and Allied Hydraulic Service Co., a Pennsylvania-based hydraulic repair business (2021).

The company added Capitol Tool, a Pennsylvania-based precision machine shop, and Valley Fluid Components, a Virginia-based fluid power distributor, in 2022. GreasePoint acquired Lubromation, a North Carolina-based designer and installer of centralized lubrication systems, in 2023.

Seth Bray has been CEO of TCC since 2019, when he succeeded Cheryl Rhein, a daughter of the founders, who became board chairman. Mr. Bray, Ms. Rhein's son-in-law, joined the company in 2014 and served four years as chief operating officer. TCC employs more than 150 people and serves customers in nine states from Pennsylvania to Georgia.

"We are proud of what our team has built over the past 58 years," said Mr. Bray. "Partnering with Incline will allow us to invest in our sales and technical teams, adding capabilities that address our customers' evolving needs and cultivate new relationships."

US manufacturers shipped $23.3 billion worth of fluid power products in 2024, according to the National Fluid Power Association. Hydraulics accounted for $17.6 billion, or 76%, and pneumatics for $5.6 billion. Hydraulics serve construction, agricultural and material-handling machinery, while pneumatics are used heavily in packaging, food processing and semiconductor equipment. The distributors that resell that equipment, and assemble and repair it, form a larger market. IBISWorld sizes the US fluid power equipment distribution industry at $34.3 billion in 2026, having grown about 4.4% a year since 2021. The research firm counts roughly 1,870 businesses, with no company holding more than 5% of the market.



For the sector, factory automation, infrastructure spending and manufacturers' capital budgets drive demand. Distributors have responded by adding engineering, assembly and repair services, and by combining. Applied Industrial Technologies, a Cleveland-based distributor founded in 1923 and listed on the New York Stock Exchange, agreed in November 2024 to acquire Hydradyne, a Dallas-based fluid power distributor founded in 1968. Airline Hydraulics, a Pennsylvania-based fluid power and automation distributor founded in 1949 and fully employee-owned, acquired Maine-based Industrial Automation Supply in June 2026. In February 2026, Kanbrick took a minority stake in Depatie Fluid Power, a Michigan-based distributor founded in 1956.

[caption id="attachment_241513" align="alignright" width="120"] Michael Antonelli[/caption]

Incline’s buy of TCC gives the firm a founder-built industrial distribution platform with an established record of adding brands through acquisition. "The Conrad Company's technical product expertise and high-quality service have supported long-term customer relationships," said Michael Antonelli, a managing director at Incline. "We are excited to pursue opportunities to expand into adjacent offerings organically and through strategic M&A."

Incline Equity Partners invests in US and Canada-based companies with enterprise values of $25 million to $750 million, with no minimum for add-on acquisitions. Sectors of interest include services, specialty distribution, software and technology, and specialized light manufacturing.

Incline closed its sixth fund, Incline Equity Partners VI LP, above target in October 2023 with more than $1.9 billion of capital commitments. In January 2025, it closed Incline Ascent Fund II LP with $500 million of above target capital. The Pittsburgh-based firm was formed in 2011 and is led by Managing Partner Jack Glover and Senior Partner Leon Rubinov.

TCC is Incline's third new platform of 2026, following software provider MCCi in January and medical physics testing firm West Physics in June. It is the firm's first new distribution platform since its June 2024 acquisition of W.S. Connelly, a distributor of consumable agronomics products for lawn and landscape, erosion control and golf applications. In October 2025, Incline sold insulation distributor Specialty Products and Insulation to TopBuild for $1 billion.