Die casting company Pace Industries, based in Fayetteville, Ark., merged with Port City Group, a die casting and injection molding company in Muskegon, Mich., Pace Industries announced July 1.
The merger will create an automotive supplier consisting of 12 divisions and 21 facilities with sales of approximately $600 million across the U.S. and Mexico, the company said in a news release.
Port City Group will retain its name while operating as a division of Pace Industries. Port City CEO John Essex also will retain his position and will join the Pace board of directors.
The merger gives Port City, located in Michigan, the reach to better serve the growing automotive industry in Mexico, Essex told Plastics News.
“[Port City was] growing at a pretty fast clip and realized that most of our customers were primarily automotive, had locations in Mexico, and we were really getting to the point where we were turning a lot of opportunities away, just because of really our inability to grow fast enough,” he said. “Now we have access to Pace's resources and the locations across the country and their capital structure, and it's a really great fit.”
Representatives from Pace Industries were not available for comment.