Chicago-based May River Capital has established Advanced Material Processing, a new platform company focused on material processing equipment for such sectors as food and beverage, pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and chemical.
Concurrently, May River completed the acquisition of Kason Corp., which will be a part of AMP, along with May River's existing portfolio company, Marion Process Solutions.
"AMP is an exciting new platform for May River," May River Partner Chip Grace said in a statement. "Material processing equipment is a highly fragmented sector. Combining industry leading, complementary material processing equipment manufacturers will allow us to advance engineering capabilities, in addition to providing other synergies. Our goal is to create short and long term value by providing better products and services to our customers."
Headquartered in Milburn, New Jersey, Kason has nearly 50 years of experience designing and manufacturing screening, drying, cooling and processing equipment. The company serves a range of industries including food, pharmaceutical, chemical, plastic, energy, minerals, aerospace and defense. Marion Process Solutions, an 80-year-old company based in Marion, Iowa, custom manufactures processing solutions with industrial mixers and blenders, as well as microwave vacuum drying systems. Marion focuses on food, nutraceutical, mineral, plastic, chemical and biomass industries.
"These two companies offer a deeply-synergistic opportunity to scale a set of highly-engineered product portfolios that are tailored to mission critical applications," Kason Corp. CEO Henry Alamzad said in a statement. "We look forward to expanding their footprints whilst bringing the strengths of both organizations to bear in the market, solving the greater material processing needs of our customers."
AMP Executive Chairman Brad Sterner added: "I'm especially excited to work with the Kason and Marion teams and their channel partners to build a global platform with a focus on organic and acquisitive growth in the hygienic process end markets.”
Winston & Strawn LLP served as legal counsel to May River and Abacus Finance Group, LLC, and Northstar Capital provided debt financing in support of the transaction. Hennepin Partners LLC served as financial adviser and Paul Hastings LLP served as legal counsel to Kason Corporation and its shareholders.
May River Capital is a private equity firm focused on investing in lower middle-market industrial growth companies. The firm looks to invest in high-quality industrial growth businesses, including precision manufacturing, engineered products, specialized industrial services and value-added industrial distribution businesses.
