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An employee-owned Black River Falls manufacturer aiming to diversify its holdings and tap metropolitan Milwaukee’s workforce has acquired Technical Metal Specialties Inc. of New Berlin.
The buyer was D&S Manufacturing. The sellers were partners Tim Michel and Tom Sheahan, said John Gulso, chief operating officer of D&S Manufacturing.
The price for the all-stock transaction was not disclosed.
Technical Metal Specialties has 46 employees and will post revenue of about $12.5 million this year, Gulso said. The company is a fabricator of carbon, stainless-steel and aluminum materials for customers in the defense, seating and drive-through menu-board industries, Gulso said.
D&S Manufacturing has about 130 employees and anticipates revenue of $39 million this year, he said. D&S is a plate-metal fabricator that supplies original equipment manufacturers in the construction equipment, aerial lift, HVAC, defense, railroad, food service and material handling industries.
Leaders of D&S Manufacturing’s employee stock-ownership plan liked the fit with Technical Metal Specialties after exploring opportunities to acquire other manufacturers in the upper Midwest, Gulso said.
D&S Manufacturing faces challenges in recruiting labor due to its location in small-town Black River Falls, which is about a one-hour drive from the nearest larger cities — both La Crosse and Eau Claire, he said.
“We’re locked in with our labor market and geography,” Gulso said.
The new owners of Technical Metal Specialties, who started running the business in July, already are recruiting to fill six open positions, he said. The New Berlin company is utilizing only a portion of its plant at 16555 Ryerson Road, and the new owners plan to expand operations there, Gulso said.
“The plan is to grow Technical Metal Specialties in this location — get the most production out of the floor space that we have,” he said.
Gulso said there’s no reason Technical Metal Specialties can’t more than double its revenue to $30 million and employ 100 or more people in New Berlin.
After acquiring Technical Metal Specialties, D&S also acquired the company's New Berlin real estate on Monday, Gulso said.
The new owners already have invested in new equipment for the New Berlin plant, including transferring equipment from Black River Falls and acquiring automation equipment, Gulso said. There’s also a likelihood of implementing synergies between D&S and Technical Metal Specialties, he said.
Bridgewood Advisors of Milwaukee represented D&S Manufacturing in its search for acquisitions that led to the Technical Metal Specialties (TMS) transaction, said managing director Doug Marconnet.
“After leading D&S through an exhaustive acquisition search process, TMS was the perfect fit to begin their acquisitions journey,” Marconnet said. “Each company brings key strategic benefits to the other.”