UPDATED — Private equity firm Capital Partners has bought a majority equity stake in Parkway Products LLC, an injection molder based in Florence, Ky.
In a news release, officials with Norwalk, Conn.-based Capital said that they “are backing a strong, well-established management team at Parkway, led by CEO Al Ridilla.”
Ridilla added in the release that Capital's low-leverage structure and emphasis on long-term value creation and core values “are a perfect fit with Parkway's history, culture and growth strategy.”
Parkway has annual sales of $75 million. The 69-year-old firm employs 560 at seven plants in the U.S. and Mexico. Parkway operates a total of 164 injection presses, according to the most recent Plastics News ranking of North American injection molders. Based on annual sales, the firm placed 86th in that ranking.
Markets served by Parkway include automotive, healthcare, electrical and industrial. The firm injection molds a variety of engineering, high performance and thermoset resins and also does other forms of molding including structural foam, thermoset, insert, multi-shot and compression, as well as magnesium thixomolding.
Parkway was founded in Cincinnati in 1946 by Edward Willig and his sons Edgar and Donald. Company management — along with Oxford Financial Group — bought out the Willig family in 2006.
Parkway did not stand still after the buyout. In 2009, the firm bought the automotive injection molding and paint and laser etching business of Nypro Inc. That business is based in Marietta, Ga. Then in 2013, Parkway sold its aerospace and defense unit to EDAC Technologies. That sale included plants in Kentucky, Ohio and Mexico.
