Machinery supplier Plastics Machinery Group has completed its first official deal as an M&A consultant.
Bedford Heights, Ohio-based PMG recently put together a deal in which Duramax Holdings LLC of Charlotte, N.C., acquired thermoformer Forming Technologies LLC of Muskegon, Mich. No purchase price was disclosed.
Duramax is a holding company that owns several thermoforming companies in the U.S. and Mexico. Forming Technologies opened in 2004 and makes heavy-gauge twin-sheet pallets.
In a phone interview, PMG President and CEO Donald Kruschke said that his firm had informally served as a consultant on around 10 deals since 1994. It's now making that work an official part of its business, and has hired financial veteran Darrin Kert to work in that area.
PMG's main business is buying and selling new, used and refurbished processing equipment. The firm focuses on thermoforming, injection molding and blow molding machines, as well as grinders and shredders and extrusion and auxiliary equipment.
"We have a unique opportunity to work with people because of our business experience," Kruschke said. "A lot of companies don't have a succession plan or an exit strategy. We felt there was a need for a service like this so we can offer that expertise."
Kert added that a number of plastics firms have older owners, so planning "is very necessary."
"There are a lot of companies looking to sell and they need to find companies looking to acquire," he said.
PMG is in the process of selling off the intellectual property of Loveman Steel & Fabrication, a Bedford Heights firm that it bought in late 2016. That acquisition allowed PMG to add almost 80,000 square feet of operating space. PMG now plans to expand the site to almost 200,000 square feet in total.
In 2020, PMG began stocking new blow molding presses for Meccanoplastica srl and thermoforming machines for Amut Group. Both of those firms are based in Italy. The deal with Meccanoplastica marked the first time PMG has sold new blow molding machines.