Kentwood hot tub, spa manufacturer acquired by PE firm

KENTWOOD — West Michigan-based hot tub manufacturer Nordic Products Inc. has sold to Monomoy Capital Partners LP, a private equity firm based in Greenwich, Conn.

Founded in 1995, Nordic Products operates from a 111,000-square-foot manufacturing facility at 4655 Patterson Ave. SE in Kentwood where it makes high-density polyethylene hot tub shells. The company specializes in therapeutic hot tubs for residential customers in North America and Europe aimed at the “affordable luxury” market.

Nordic Products President Maurizio Vozza said company officials “felt it was time for Nordic to expand and to grow, and we were impressed with Monomoy and the acquisitions they had made.”

“We felt Nordic would be a good addition to those acquisitions and a good platform to help Nordic grow in the future,” Vozza told MiBiz.

Monomoy Capital Partners has been consolidating the hot tub and spa industry since the January 2022 acquisition of family-owned Las Vegas, Nev.-based Artesian Spas and Independence, Ore.-based Marquis Spas, which had been controlled by an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). 

The private equity firm said at the time that it planned to combine the companies into a new pool and spa wellness platform for it to acquire other similar businesses. Monomoy Capital’s strategy includes maintaining local brands and partnering with local management teams to scale the businesses, which Vozza said made the private equity firm an “ideal partner” for the deal. 

Vozza joined Nordic Products in 2005, took a minority stake in 2007, and later acquired a 75-percent ownership stake in the company in 2013. He was part of a team working to acquire the company from the previous owner, but paused those plans when the Great Recession hit. In that time, Nordic has doubled the number of products that it carries and “continued to bring an aesthetic look to products that were well received by consumers,” Vozza said.

The company has more than 100 employees, which includes temporary workers, Vozza said.

Monomoy Capital Partners invests in middle market businesses with a focus on industrial and consumer products sectors in North America and Europe. The private equity firm was founded in 2005 and has more than $2.7 billion in assets under management. 

Nordic Products was advised on the deal by Grand Rapids-based M&A firm Calder Capital LLC. Grand Rapids-based Varnum LLP served as legal adviser, while accounting firm Beene Garter, A Doeren Mayhew Firm, also based in Grand Rapids, served as tax adviser to Nordic Products.