Latitude 27 Capital, a private investment firm, has acquired the assets of JK Jewelry, (doing business as JK Findings), a designer, manufacturer and wholesaler of jewelry components (findings) for an undisclosed amount.

JK Findings’ founder and CEO John Kaupp will retire as CEO and stay with the business as an equity investor and board member in the newly formed JK Acquisition.

Tim Tevens – Managing Director of Latitude 27 Capital said: “We see clear strategic growth paths in both product and market expansion that will fuel the future growth and success of JK Findings. Given the size and breadth of this niche market and our long-term expectations, we believe with this acquisition we will achieve out-sized returns for our investors.”

JK Findings was established in 1975 as a wholesaler of jewelry findings. Based in Rochester, New York, the manufacturer of gold, gold filled, and silver jewelry findings has a sales office in Hong Kong.

Due to the poor quality and service from existing suppliers, John Kaupp decided to insource the manufacturing process to better control supply chain quality and come up with more innovative product offerings. Over its long history, John Kaupp is said to have made JK Findings into an industry-leading designer and manufacturer of high-quality jewelry findings.

Additionally, John Kaupp is said to have formed a strong management team, that includes 20-year veteran, Joni Lucas, who had doubled up as chief financial officer and chief operating officer of JK Findings for the last 14 years. Joni Lucas will replace John Kaupp as the new CEO.

Joni Lucas – CEO of JK Findings said: “I am pleased to lead this company to its next phase of growth and work closely with our new owners, Latitude 27 Capital. Jim and Tim bring a wealth of knowledge to further advance the creativity, operational efficiencies and strong customer focus of our JK Findings team, and to drive the opportunity for even greater expansion. Given Jim and Tim’s leadership experience with larger and more global manufacturing companies, I believe they will help us achieve our long-term, global growth goals.”

  Hong Kong, JK Findings, JK Jewelry, John Kaupp, Joni Lucas, Latitude 27 Capital, New York, Tim Tevens