Shock Doctor, Inc., a Minnetonka-based maker of sports gear, has been acquired by Bregal Partners, a New York-based middle-market private equity firm, Bregal announced Monday. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
 
Shock Doctor began producing mouthguards more than 20 years ago and has since branched out to other forms of protective equipment and performance apparel for athletes. (In 2011, Twin Cities Business reported that the company commanded 90 percent of the domestic market for athletic mouthguards.)
 
Shock Doctor products are widely sold throughout the United States in major retailers, independent dealers, online stores, and by health care professionals. In the past, the company has partnered with professional athletes such as former-Viking Percy Harvin. Its products are available in about 50 countries.

 
Bregal Partners bought Shock Doctor from Minneapolis-based Norwest Equity Partners, a middle market equity investment firm that has counted Shock Doctor among its portfolio companies since 2008.
 
Bregal Partners focuses investments in three primary areas: consumer, food, and retail; energy; and health care. It is part of Bregal Investments, which has invested more than $9 billion since 2002.
 
Robert Bergmann, Bregal Partners’ cofounder and managing partner, said in a statement that Shock Doctor was in a key position to grow at the intersection of consumer products and health care.
 
“We see great opportunity for Shock Doctor to continue to revolutionize the $9 billion global market for performance and protective equipment with new, innovative, and disruptive products,” Bergmann said in a statement. “Beyond entering new categories, the company should also benefit from overall market growth and an ability to acquire other industry participants.”
 
Another Local Business Bought By A Private Equity Firm
 
Meanwhile, Generation Growth Capital, Inc., a Milwaukee-based private equity firm that invests in lower middle-market companies, recently announced that it acquired Innovative Laser Technologies.
 
Minneapolis-based ILT designs and fabricates custom laser workstations used to produce mission-critical components for the medical device, defense, energy, and aerospace industries. 
 
The company said that the existing management team at ILT will stay in place. “We plan on investing in new systems, processes, and people to help manage the growth that the company is experiencing,” John Reinke, managing director of Generation Growth Capital, said in a statement.
 
The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. ILT joins Generation Growth’s portfolio of eight other current investments in industries such as manufacturing, language services, and distribution.
 
Even More Local Transactions
 
Also announced Monday: CyberOptics Corporation, a Minneapolis-based provider of sensors and inspection systems, acquired fellow Minneapolis firm LaserDesign, Inc.
 
LaserDesign is a “3D metrology company” with $6 million in annual revenue, according to CyberOptics, which said it bought the company for $2.7 million in cash, “plus the assumption of certain current liabilities.”
 
And CHS, Inc.—an Inver Grove Heights-based, Fortune 100 company—said it agreed to acquire several Canadian retail assets from Crop Production Services Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Agrium, Inc. CHS bills itself as the nation’s largest farmer-owned co-op; Agrium, meanwhile, is an agricultural retail supplier.
 
Terms of the CHS deal, which is expected to be completed by April, were not disclosed.