Private Equity Firm Buys AstroNova, Takes It Off the Stock Market

AstroNova, a manufacturing company whose stock traded publicly, agreed June 17 to be bought by Arcline Investment Management for $29 per share—roughly $272 million total. Public companies face high costs: few investors follow them, rules are heavy, and their shares are hard to trade. Going private lets the company focus on building better products instead of constantly chasing quarterly profits.