The labor lockout in professional basketball has frustrated sports fans and unnerved downtown Cleveland businesses who count on Cavaliers fans to patronize their establishments. But on the transactions front, Northeast Ohio’s deal market continues to be open for business. The local market was especially active as several area companies either announced or closed on a number of strategic acquisitions in September while several other local companies were acquired. On the private equity front, many Northeast Ohio private equity groups were involved in acquisitions as well.
More specifically, Berkshire Hathaway officially closed the Lubrizol deal, which was announced in March of this year. Primus Venture Partners purchased G2 Web Services LLC and also sold SterilMed Inc. to Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company. Cornerstone Industrial Group LLC, a private equity firm in Chagrin Falls, sold Fremont, Ohio-based FPM Tooling & Automation to Tooling Tech Group out of Fort Loramie.
Scrap company PSC Metals Inc. of Mayfield Heights closed on the acquisition of Shapiro Brothers Inc., of Festus, Mo. This is PSC’s fourth acquisition in 2011. This purchase now gives PSC a total 37 locations in the Midwest and Southeast. PSC Metals employs 900 people and is a subsidiary of Icahn Enterprises LP.
The Riverside Co. maintained both resilience and growth in the face of news that banks are selling investments in private equity companies with the company’s 14th and 15th acquisitions in 2011, Centiv Services LLC and Avatar International LLC. Riverside also closed on its next micro-cap fund in September at 37 percent above its target of $100 million, showing it can still raise money despite an estimated half a trillion dollars of unspent private equity dollars in the marketplace.
Albert D. Melchiorre is the president of MelCap Partners LLC, a middle-market investment banking firm. He is also a director on the ACG Cleveland board. For more information on MelCap Partners, please visit www.melcap.co. For more information about the Association for Corporate Growth, please visit www.acg.org/cleveland.
Deal of the Month
RPM International Inc. has been very active in the second half of the year and has completed its fifth deal in two months, which is why RPM is our Deal of the Month for September. First, its subsidiary, RPM Wood Finishes Group, purchased Texas-based Fuhr Industrial. Next, RPM closed on the acquisition of Kemrock Industries & Exports Ltd., which is based in India. And finally, RPM announced the purchase of Legend Brands, from Cleveland-based private equity firm Blue Point Capital Partners. This acquisition will help RPM extend its reach to the restoration of property markets as Legends provides equipment and solutions for water and fire damage restoration
