Davalor Mold Co. has acquired Industrial Molding Corp. from publicly held NN Inc. in a $16 million all-cash deal.
IMC was NN's only plastics products plant, officials with Davalor in Chesterfield, Mich., said in a news release. NN, based in Charlotte, N.C., makes high-precision components and assemblies.
The Lubbock, Texas-based IMC unit "is considered the gold standard" in composite bearing retainers, officials said. IMC also has a tool shop that makes complex tools and performs proprietary manufacturing processes.
IMC's product mix includes precision engineered injection molded industrial parts. The business specializes in tight-tolerance custom thermoplastic injection molding for industrial components, medical equipment and commercial and passenger vehicles.
Davalor makes molded plastic products for auto supplies, including Tier 1 firms. It is owned by private equity firm Blackford Capital of Grand Rapids, Mich. Blackford acquires, manages and builds founder and family-owned lower middle-market companies, with a focus on manufacturing, industrial and distribution.
Financial firm Blaige & Co. of Chicago was the exclusive adviser to NN in the transaction.
NN President and CEO Harold Bevis said in the release that his firm "is underway with a strategic transformation that includes re-focusing on our core technical competencies and accelerating our advances in those technologies."
He added that IMC "is a high-quality niche stand-alone plastics injection-molding division, but is not core to our strategic direction. …. We are pleased to sell this plant and business unit to Davalor, a strategic buyer with better scale and a pure plastics focus."
Bevis thanked the IMC team in Lubbock "for their contributions to NN over the last 25 years, and I am pleased that we have found them a long-term home with a growing and competitive plastics company."
Davalor CEO John Boeschenstein said that as his firm seeks to expand its capabilities beyond plastic injection molding, "we are thrilled to have found a strategic partner with a strong, design-for-manufacturing approach to injection molded plastics."