Equipment housings maker Thermo-Fab Corp., dba Thermofab, has a new owner after more than 45 years in business, but two of the founders will be staying on.
Producto Group LLC, a portfolio company of Culper Capital Partners of Closter, N.J., announced its acquisition of ThermoFab on Sept. 1.
Thermofab makes heavy-gauge plastic enclosures and has two facilities — its headquarters plant in Shirley, Mass., and a site in Boylston, Mass. Combined, the facilities cover 40,000 square feet.
Thermofab was one of the first companies to produce parts for lottery machines. Today, it serves the medical, high-tech and diversified industrial markets. As noted on its website, "ThermoFab is now producing parts for robots that can perform hip and knee surgery, machines that can transport a living organ [and] robots that assist in supply management. … It's a long way from a table-sized lottery machine."
Culper Capital office manager Lore Stamboulian said by email that Thermofab co-founders Thomas King Jr. and Michael Wahl are remaining with the company as part of Producto Group.
In a news release, King and Wahl expressed confidence that Culper officials will be "great stewards" of Thermofab, which King described as "the business I spent my life building."
Culper Capital announced in January it was forming Producto Group as a control platform investment after Culper acquired contract tooling and components makers Ring Precision Components of Jamestown, N.Y., and New Vision Industries Inc. of Endicott, N.Y.; along with Dieco, a Solon, Ohio-based distributor of springs and die sets in the United States and Canada.
With the Thermofab acquisition, Stamboulian said, Producto's annual sales will be between $30 million and $50 million. Adding Thermofab's 34 employees to Producto's roster will bring its total employment to 174.