Mergers and acquisitions are always top news items for Plastics News, but the payout to owners and executives don't typically trickle down to line workers.
Minnesota Rubber and Plastics is the exception.
The plastics, rubber and LSR molder based in Plymouth, Minn., has announced a deal from Sweden's Trelleborg AB to buy the company as Trelleborg grows in North America. The company, officially Quadion LLC dba Minnesota Rubber and Plastics, has been owned by global investment group KKR since 2018. When it bought the business, KKR implemented an employee ownership program. And now with the Trelleborg deal, 1,450 employees across six countries and four states will get a payout as well, with bonuses worth a minimum of three months' salary and rising to up to two full years' salary.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune was on site Aug. 2 as executives hosted a companywide meeting to announce the acquisition and the bonuses.
"Employees hooted, hollered and clapped loudly as the bonuses were announced," the Star Tribune's Patrick Kennedy wrote. "Some even covered their faces with their hands in surprise and joy."
The average pay at MPR is $50,000.
"To help employees with cash bonuses that could exceed $100,000, depending on employee's tenure, [KKR will] give all employees prepaid personal financial coaching and tax preparation services," Kennedy wrote.