Kickstart: Hillenbrand didn’t take a bath on Milacron

A couple of numbers really jumped out at me on Wednesday when Hillenbrand Inc. announced that it’s selling the majority of its Milacron injection molding and extrusion machinery business to an affiliate of Bain Capital for $287 million.

Hillenbrand has only owned Milacron since 2019, when it paid $1.9 billion for Milacron Holdings Corp. I did a double take, and I’m sure Plastics News readers did too — exactly how much value did Milacron lose in just six years?

Global plastics machinery has been in a recession since the pandemic, so it’s not exactly a market where I’d recommend that widows and orphans put all their savings. But the numbers aren’t as bleak as they first appear.

First, remember that Bain is buying just a 51 percent stake in the business. And second, keep in mind that when Hillenbrand bought Milacron Holdings Corp., it was not just "Milacron." That $1.9 billion deal also included DME and Mold-Masters. Those businesses aren’t included in the sale to Bain Capital.

There’s one more number to remember: When Hillenbrand bought Milacron, that also included Cimcool, which makes metalworking fluids and equipment. Cimcool wasn’t really a good fit with the plastics operations, so Hillenbrand sold Cimcool to Dubois Chemical Inc. for $224 million in 2020.

So let’s break down what Bain is buying vs. what Hillenbrand is keeping. That’s pretty simple because Hillenbrand already reports the sales and EBITDA separately. In fiscal year 2024, Milacron’s machinery business generated $526 million in sales and $64 million in adjusted EBITDA.

 

Hillenbrand’s Molding Technology Solutions business — basically DME and Mold-Masters — posted 2024 sales of $895 million and adjusted EBITDA of $143 million. That’s quite a bit larger than the machinery business.

And don’t forget that Hillenbrand is keeping a 49 percent stake in the machinery business. That suggests that Hillenbrand still has confidence in Milacron’s potential — although keeping a minority stake will reduce the company’s direct exposure to the cyclicality of plastics machinery. 

I apologize for all the numbers, but I think they help explain how two deals for Milacron went from $1.9 billion to $287 million in just six years. And what really matters to our readers will be the future of the Milacron, DME and Mold-Masters brands (not to mention the other plastics machinery brands Hillenbrand owns that aren’t included in this deal, including Coperion and Herbold).

The Milacron story was just the latest M&A news in what’s been a busy month. And that doesn’t even include potential deals that haven’t happened yet — for example, see Jim Johnson’s story on what may be coming next for Amcor and Berry Global.

M&A news is very important to a lot of PN readers, so I put a lot of effort into staying on top all the latest deals and making sure we’re first to report them. And Frank Esposito does two special reports every year on plastics M&A trends, too.

But once in a while a deal slips through the cracks. I noticed two this week that happened back in October 2024, although they still haven’t closed.

First, on Oct. 17, Atlas Holdings and Guardian Industries agreed to buy Troy, Mich.-based SRG Global, a leading manufacturer of automotive trim. Greenwich, Conn.-based Atlas Holdings already owns US Farathane and other automotive suppliers, but the addition of SRG Global is significant: The company has sites in North America, Europe and Asia.

Less than a week after announcing the SRG deal, Atlas announced a deal to buy Rehau Automotive from the Rehau Group. That deal was just approved this week by the European Commission.

When the SRG and Rehau deals are complete, sometime in the first quarter of 2025, Atlas plans to combine the two and form a new company. We’re watching for details.

If M&A news is important to you, then I highly recommend checking our M&A Tracker regularly.

Let’s wrap up today’s edition of Kickstart with one more M&A-related item. I thought it was notable that Clinton, Tenn.-based Techmer PM announced this week that it’s buying Elk Grove Village, Ill.-based color supplier Colors for Plastics Inc.

And not just because these are two well-known plastics suppliers.

The angle I enjoyed is that both companies are known for having highly engaged employees. Techmer has been named to Plastics News' Best Places to Work list six times, most recently in 2021. Colors for Plastics made that same list in 2015, 2018 and 2023.

Neither company is on the list of 2025 Best Places to Work, which we’ll be awarding next month at the PN Executive Forum. But I hope to see them back next year.