Lincoln Industries on Wednesday announced the largest acquisition in its history.
The company that bills itself as North America's largest privately held metal-finishing operation got a lot larger with the purchase of two affiliated Wisconsin-based businesses, Southwest Metal Finishing and Inventix Manufacturing.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Southwest Metal Finishing, based in New Berlin, Wisconsin, is a decorative chrome-plating and metal-finishing company that also has facilities in Texas and Mexico. Inventix Manufacturing, located at Menomonee Falls, produces zinc and aluminum die castings. Together, the companies employ about 200 people in the U.S. and more than 600 overall, which is about the same number of people who currently work at Lincoln Industries.
Lincoln Industries acquired the companies through a court-ordered receivership process. A deal had been struck in January to sell the companies to Ohio-based Armor Group Inc., but that deal fell through, Lincoln Industries CEO and Chairman Marc LeBaron said.
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LeBaron said he started looking at the prospect of acquiring the companies about six weeks ago.
He said the acquisition will expand Lincoln Industries' capabilities and market reach and will strengthen relationships with its current customers.
“The combination of our companies will drive substantial technological and operational synergies,†LeBaron said. “While we provide more than 40 finishing processes and significant manufacturing capabilities, the addition of zinc and aluminum die casting and related metal finishing processes are important additions to our offerings."
According to the Inventix website, the two companies have combined annual sales of more than $50 million.
Lincoln Industries, which has been based in Lincoln since its founding in 1952, counts among its customers Harley-Davidson, Fender guitars and many major truck manufacturers.
This is the company's second acquisition of an out-of-state company in the past three years. It bought DS Manufacturing in Pine Island, Minnesota, in April 2015, which changed its name to Lincoln Industries in July of last year.
"Sometimes the opportunities just occur somewhere else," LeBaron said.