Action Fabricators is Sold to Boyd Corporation
Chattanooga, TN, February 26, 2018
River Associates (“River”) announces the sale of its portfolio company, Action Fabricators (“Action”) to Boyd Corporation. Financial terms of the transaction are not disclosed.
Headquartered in Grand Rapids, MI, Action is one of the nation’s leading 3M Preferred Converters of adhesive and non-adhesive-backed tapes, foams, rubbers and other flexible materials for numerous end market applications, including automotive, medical, electronics, security, furniture, appliance, and general industrial applications. Action provides its clients with cost-effective, value-added custom solutions to meet their specific application needs.
In the 2 ½ years since River’s initial investment in August 2015, Action has nearly doubled in size through a combination of organic and acquisitive growth. Action acquired three highly strategic and accretive add-ons in the medical arena which significantly increased its presence in custom disposable medical devices, patient monitoring and wound care products, and significantly diversified its automotive end market exposure. These strategic acquisitions also helped to build out a national platform for the Company, which now has operations in MI, TN and TX.
“River stood out from the beginning when we were looking for a financial partner in 2015”, stated Jon Rudolph, CEO and founder of Action. “It was clear that they had the experience to help us in the next stage of our growth, but what was most important to us was the cultural fit…and they spent considerable time and effort making sure our cultures would be a good fit and they never tried to change who we are or how we do things. They were very proactive with us, providing a game plan for the first 100 days, and a clear acquisition strategy. They also helped us expand our facility and build out the depth of our management team. Throughout our growth initiatives, River has been very respectful of the systems, management, and culture we have in place and we’re very happy to have had the opportunity to work with them.”
Mike Brookshire, Co-Managing Partner of River Associates, said, “It has been a privilege to work with Jon, Don, Fred and the entire team, and we are very pleased with what we have been able to accomplish together during our partnership. From our first meeting we were extremely impressed by the culture and business they created as well as their desire to continue grow the business with the right partner. They have been terrific partners and friends from day one of our time together and we will miss working with them. Action is very well positioned for its next phase of growth with its new partner and we wish them continued success.”
Robert W. Baird served as financial advisor and Miller and Martin served as legal advisor to River and Action’s other shareholders.
About River Associates
River Associates is a private equity firm based in Chattanooga, Tennessee that focuses exclusively on investing in the lower middle market and has partnered closely with management teams for over 25 years. Target businesses can be privately held, private equity-backed or divestitures from larger companies. River Associates is opportunistic as to industry and has invested in numerous manufacturers, high margin distributors, industrial service, business service and select non-faddish retail. The firm is currently investing its 7th committed fund and seeks to make investments in companies with $30 million to $150 million in revenues throughout the United States and Canada. Since its founding in 1989, River Associates has initiated 84 transactions, many of which have been strategic add-on acquisitions to platform companies.