Injection molder Williams Industries Inc. has been sold to Elk Grove, Ill.-based investment firm Thunderbird LLC in partnership with private equity firm Westbourne Capital Partners in Chicago. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Terry Minnick, chairman of Molding Business Services Inc. in Florence, Mass., who worked as an adviser to Williams Industries, said in a Jan. 3 telephone interview that Thunderbird is now the majority owner.
Williams Industries will operate as a subsidiary of Thunderbird going forward.
Williams Industries is based in Shelbyville, Ind., and offers in-house injection molding as well as digital printing on a variety of plastic substrates, such as vinyl, polyethylene and acrylic. The company also designs and manufactures the Tritan USA brand of plastic drinkware products.
Luke Williams sold the family owned injection molding business due to personal health issues, Minnick said, but the entire management team at Williams Industries will stay on to help run the business.
Thunderbird was formed by Kevin Prunsky and John Newell after the sale of Pollution Control Industries Inc., a waste management company that Prunsky founded in 1986. The "family office" has investments in two metal parts manufacturers. This is the firm's first investment in a plastics company.
Phone calls to Prunsky and Westbourne Capital Partners were not immediately returned.