Apollo-Backed State Group Acquires 75-Year-Old Mel-Kay Electric

What happened

The State Group, a multi-trade industrial contractor headquartered in Franklin, Tennessee, acquired Mel-Kay Electric Co., an MEP contractor based in Evansville, Indiana. The State Group announced the acquisition in a press release dated September 8, 2026. Five days earlier, news station WFIE reported that a letter from CEO Scott Hartig had named The State Group as the new owner and said the company would continue to operate under the name MelKay. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The seller

MelKay was founded in 1951 by Hartig's grandfather "in the back office of his in-laws' small hotel and restaurant," as Hartig tells it. The company has been in the family for three generations. "Selling a company that has been part of my family for three generations is not easy," Hartig said, adding that "knowing the quality of the people who will continue to lead MelKay" gives him confidence in its future. Chad Thompson is president.

MelKay has more than 400 union tradesmen doing electrical, mechanical and plumbing construction and maintenance, plus HVAC, fire, security, communications and safety systems. It also does commercial refrigeration for food and drug customers, industrial equipment relocation and design-build work, and it is affiliated with the IBEW and NECA. Its industrial and commercial customers span southern Indiana, southern Illinois and western Kentucky, and it holds preferred-vendor status with Berry Global, Deaconess Health, Sabic and Toyota, among others.

The buyer

The State Group was established in 1961. It provides electrical and mechanical trade services to Fortune 100 companies in power generation, automotive, data centers, e-commerce, oil and gas, communications, metals and transportation. It performs more than eight million man-hours a year and has offices across the United States and Canada.

It is a portfolio company of funds managed by Apollo. Funds from Apollo's Impact and Clean Transition strategies bought a majority stake from Blue Wolf Capital in November 2024, and at the time Blue Wolf kept a minority stake alongside management shareholders. Berenson & Company served as The State Group's financial advisor on the MelKay deal.

"MelKay has a strong brand built on a foundation of over 75 years of high-quality service," said Michael Lampert, the company's executive chairman.

The State Group's union deals in Indiana and Illinois

MelKay follows two union contractor acquisitions The State Group announced after Apollo invested. In December 2025 it bought J&J Electric of Indiana, a Kokomo electrical contractor founded in 1990 with more than 200 union electricians in Central Indiana. In February 2026 it bought Ruder Electric, a Kankakee, Illinois electrical contractor founded in 1995 with more than 100 union electricians. Berenson also advised on the Ruder deal.

Both earlier sellers were announced as electrical contractors. MelKay is the first of the three announced as an MEP contractor, bringing mechanical and plumbing trades, and the first based in southern Indiana. Owners weighing a sponsor-backed buyer can read our guide on selling an HVAC or mechanical business to private equity.

What this means for MEP contracting owners

Union labor is not the exception in this buyer's acquisitions in the region; it is the common thread of all three. What MelKay added was breadth and a customer roster: a third-generation union shop whose announcement put its preferred-vendor relationships with manufacturers and a health system in the summary line, ahead of its founding story. For the owner of a union MEP shop in southern Indiana, southern Illinois or western Kentucky, an Apollo-backed buyer now owns a 75-year-old MEP contractor in Evansville and has announced acquisitions in Kokomo, Kankakee and Evansville in under nine months.

OffDeal is an advisory firm that helps lower-middle-market business owners sell with confidence. Reach out to learn more about our expertise with MEP contracting businesses in Indiana.

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Source: The State Group - https://stategroup.com/news/the-state-group-acquires-melkay-a-leading-mechanical-electrical-and-plumbing-mep-contractor-in-evansville-indiana/