Manchester Circuit Board Manufacturer Gets Acquired; Moves to Nashua

A decades old printed circuit board manufacturer in Manchester is now a new division of Mass Design Inc. in Nashua. Mass Design acquired Electropac, a 39-year printed circuit board manufacturer, for an undisclosed amount last week.

Printed circuit boards are used in all but the simplest electronic products. They route signals and power through electronic devices, providing both mechanical and electrical connections.

Mass Design had previously worked with Electropac, and the acquisition was part of a succession plan by Electropac Founder Ray Boissoneau. He says he originally was seeking to sell the business to an employee, but when that deal did not pan out, Boissoneau approached Mass Design as he appreciated the way the company conducted business and had a philosophy that closely aligned with his own.

“Our interest in Electropac was we had a long relationship with Ray over the years,” says Tony Bourassa, president of Mass Design. “We’ve always been very reciprocal with each other. Ray had some things he could do for us and there were thing he asked us to do for him. That was how the relationship started.”

While the Manchester plant will be shut down, Mass Design hired a few key personnel from Electropac, which only has a dozen employees in total. The hiring of any additional former Electropac employees will depend on how many customers migrate with the company following the acquisition, says Bourassa.

Boissoneau says he is happy to sell the business to Mass Design. “It reached a point where I wanted to do something else. I’ve been in this industry since 1962 and had own business since 1976,” Boisoneau says of his decision to sell Electropac. At its height, Electropac generated $60 million in annual revenue, employed 550, and had locations in three countries and two joint ventures. However, during the past decade, Boissoneau says the industry and business downsized and business shifted to Asia as customers sought cheaper prices over quality and the value-added services Electropac provided.

While Electropac fabricated printed circuit boards, Mass Design, which employs 60 people and has revenues of $8 million a year, designs and fabricates printed circuit boards. Bourassa says there is a lot of growth potential since the two companies did not have many overlapping customers.

As for Boissoneau, he is continuing to cultivate his other business ventures, including property management and development in Laconia, Concord and Merrimack.