CHICAGO -- There were four completed EMS transactions in the third quarter, plus one consolidation, according to investment bankers Lincoln International. The firm listed Wright Industries' acquisition of Custom Interconnect, Nittoku Denshi's purchase of Ohens, Nistec's acquisition of Eltek and OSI Electronics' acquisition of Briton EMS.

Not listed was Jabil's acquisition of an IBM site in Poughkeepsie, NY, in August.

Alpha Electronics, in Wood Dale, IL, closed in July, as did CTS' Blantyre, Scotland, site.

The merger and acquisition trend has slowed since 2013 began, and is tending toward a third straight year of fewer transactions.

Since the beginning of October, several deals have commenced, including Benchmark buying CTS' EMS operations, Hunter acquiring NBS Design, and Natel's purchase of Epic Technologies.