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Chicago firm acquires Craft Cast Co.
SOURCE: The Business Journal October 7, 2007
By Rich Rovito
Craft Cast Co., a Jackson investment castings manufacturer has been purchased by Reliant Equity Advisors, Chicago.
Founded in 1984, Craft Cast operates a 50,000-square foot factory at N160W19170 Sherman Road in the village of Jackson in Washington County. About 75 employees work at the plant. Craft Cast manufactures a variety of investment castings using ferrous and non-ferrous alloys including stainless steel, brass, bronze and aluminum.
The company produces castings for food service, industrial, automotive, and consumer product industries.
Terms of the transaction were not released.
Reliant purchased Craft Cast because the business is complementary to another of the private equity firm’s holdings. Saginaw Powertrain Inc., said Chris Zuzick managing director of the Milwaukee office of the Green Bay-based Cornerstone Business Services, Inc. which served as financial advisor for the Craft Cast transaction.
Al Scargall, who serves as general manager of Saginaw Powertrain, a Saginaw, Mich. Supplier of automotive drive train components, also has been named to oversee day-to-day operations of Craft Cast, Zuzick said.
Craft Cast’s plant in Jackson will remain in operation and employees will retain their jobs, he said.
Craft Cast’s new owner, Reliant Equity Investors is a private equity investment firm with more than $120 million under management that invests in middle market businesses, according to Reliant’s Web site. Managing directors Thomas Darden Jr., Roy Roberts, Carr Preston and Omar Simmons founded Reliant in 2001.
Reliant’s investment strategy focuses on buyouts of “growth-oriented, fundamentally sound middle-market businesses in basic industries” with a minimum of $3 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, which provides an approximate measure of the company’s operating cash flow, according to Reliant’s Web site.
Management at Craft Cast and Reliant Equity didn’t return calls seeking comment.
In June 2006, Reliant acquired Rocore Inc., Franklin, for an undisclosed price. Rocore, a manufacturer of radiators, heat exchangers and cooling products, has a plant at 9845 S. 57th St.
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