Displaying items by tag: Charter Capital Partners

Mergers and acquisitions within the banking industry are expected to maintain a steady pace in the new year.

Professionals working in mergers and acquisitions in West Michigan expect strong deal flow to continue in 2017, maintaining a seller’s market.

The availability of scientific and executive management talent and the access to later-stage investment capital remain major issues for Michigan’s life sciences industry.

FRUITPORT — A connection Chris Witham made five years ago at a trade show in Anaheim, Calif. culminated in a major investment that will position Motion Dynamics Corp. for growth in the medical device industry.

Here is the MiBiz Growth Report for Sept. 6, 2016:

• M&A: Lansing-based Eckhart Inc., a portfolio company of private equity firm LFM Capital of Nashville, Tenn., acquired Auto Craft Tool & Die Inc. and 3 D Sales Inc., both of Algonac, Mich., in a deal to add more controls, robotics, and automation-based solutions and distribution capabilities. Auto Craft operates facilities in Marine City, where it makes material handling systems and specialized tooling for industrial manufacturers. The company manufactures door and instrument panel carriers and automatic guided carts. The related 3 D Sales business distributes industrial ergonomic and work cell components. The deal, the terms for which were not disclosed, was the first for Eckhart, a manufacturer of ergonomic assembly line equipment that last year joined the LFM Capital portfolio. The Nashville-based private equity firm focuses on lower middle-market manufacturers and industrial services providers with enterprise values in the $15 million to $75 million range.

GRAND RAPIDS — An investment banking adviser believes the current environment in the contract furniture industry should lead to more deals getting done before the end of the year. 

Herman Miller Inc.’s highly praised $154 million acquisition in 2014 of high-end furniture retailer Design Within Reach Inc. may not legally have occurred.

Here is the MiBiz Growth Report for May 16, 2016: 

• M&A: Indianapolis-based The XLerate Group, a portfolio company of Detroit-based private equity firm Huron Capital Partners LLC, has acquired Jenison-based Grand Rapids Auto Auction. The deal represents the second acquisition in a year for The XLerate Group, which acquired Schoolcraft-based Greater Kalamazoo Auto Auction in May 2015. XLerate provides dealer-to-dealer auto auctions for used vehicles. Grand Rapids Auto Auction, located at 2380 Port Sheldon Ct., provides used vehicle remarketing to fleet and leasing companies and dealers in Michigan, Illinois and Ohio. Terms of the deal were undisclosed. Through the acquisition, XLerate now has local auto auctions that operate 17 physical and mobile sites in Michigan, South Carolina, California, Texas, Wisconsin and Florida.

Following a two-year preparation process, Crystal Flash has successfully transitioned to a 100-percent employee-owned company.

PARCHMENT — Advia Credit Union’s proposed acquisition of Mid America Bank, a small community bank in southern Wisconsin, is the kind of deal that occurs infrequently in the financial services industry.

A pair of deals would give Chemical Financial Corp. and Huntington Bancshares Inc. larger footprints in Michigan and could renew the momentum for bank M&A in the state.

Fleet Engineers Inc. of Muskegon has expanded its truck and trailer business with the acquisition of Charlotte, N.C.-based Save-A-Load Inc., a maker of cargo bars for tractor trailers and pickups.

After running as lean as possible in the years following the recession, West Michigan manufacturers are embracing acquisitions as a strategy to add capacity and meet customer demand. That was the case for Grand Rapids-based Mill Steel Co. when it acquired certain assets of S&S Steel Services Inc. of Anderson, Ind.