Blackford-backed Habco acquires Norfolk's E.G. Middleton, adding a century-old shipyard and utility electrical contractor in Virginia

Blackford Capital announced October 14 that it has acquired E.G. Middleton, Inc. (EGM), a third-generation, family-owned electrical contractor based in Norfolk, Virginia. EGM joins Habco Partnership, Blackford's mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) services platform, and the release says the deal expands Habco into Virginia and strengthens its electrical contracting capabilities across the Mid-Atlantic. President and CEO E.G. Middleton III, known as Rudy, and EGM's existing management team will remain with the company.

The asset.

EGM designs, installs and maintains electrical systems for large infrastructure and institutional projects, including high-voltage power distribution, substations, building wiring, site lighting and specialized control systems. It serves federal, state, local and commercial customers throughout the Mid-Atlantic and specializes in industrial and heavy electrical construction, utility distribution, military installations, ship repair infrastructure and transportation work. Its mission-critical environments include shipyards, piers and dry docks, and its long-standing customers include the U.S. Navy, Dominion Energy and Newport News Shipbuilding.

"E.G. Middleton has grown by doing demanding work well and earning the trust of our customers," Rudy Middleton said, adding that the partnership gives the team more resources and reach while preserving its values and operating culture.

The platform.

Blackford Capital is a Grand Rapids, Michigan private equity firm founded in 2010 by Martin Stein. It makes majority-control investments in lower middle-market industrial companies, typically with $20 million to $200 million of revenue. Blackford acquired St. Louis-based Habco, a design-build electrical contractor founded in 1973 with in-house electrical, communications and fire alarm engineering, and Moro Corporation, a Natick, Massachusetts construction services and materials company, in December 2025. In March 2026 it merged the two into an HVAC, electrical and diversified services platform operating under the Habco name, led by Habco CEO Andrew Habel. Moro's businesses, including Apollo Heating, Rondout Electric and Whaling City Iron Co., continue under their own brands, and Habco had a satellite office in the Washington, D.C. area at launch.

Blackford managing director Jeff Johnson said EGM brings Habco technical expertise, a Mid-Atlantic presence and customer relationships built over generations. The release says the combination creates room to pursue larger projects, expand capacity and cross-sell across the companies' customer bases. Habel said Rudy Middleton and his family built a business with a history spanning more than a century.

Project-heavy, mission-critical electrical.

Much of EGM's work is project-based: substations, utility distribution, shipyard and military infrastructure. That kind of revenue is usually valued differently from recurring service, as we covered in our piece on the construction-exposure valuation gap. What sets EGM apart is its customer list: repeat relationships with the Navy, a major utility and a shipbuilder, and specialized capability in what the release calls mission-critical environments such as shipyards, piers and dry docks.

Other sponsors have been buying industrial and infrastructure electrical contractors on the same logic. Kelso Industries has pushed its MEP platform into industrial and infrastructure work, Heartwood-backed Norlee Group added Hickory, North Carolina industrial contractor IEM Electric, and Apollo-backed State Group added MelKay in the Tri-State.

What it means.

Habco now has a Hampton Roads electrical contractor with Navy, utility and shipyard relationships, and Blackford has said it will keep looking for acquisitions that complement the platform. For electrical contractors in Virginia and the Mid-Atlantic doing government, utility or industrial work, Habco is an active PE-backed buyer that kept EGM's owner and management in place.