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Oct 22, 2024

Portland Products acquires Pro Stamp | Crain's Grand Rapids Business

Buying a Walker metal stamping company gives Portland Products Inc. added capacity and capabilities to grow. A maker of mechanical assemblies for the automotive and heavy truck industries, Portland

Buying a Walker metal stamping company gives Portland Products Inc. added capacity and capabilities to grow.

A maker of mechanical assemblies for the automotive and heavy truck industries, Portland Products will operate Pro Stamp LLC as a separate company and combine the two organizations over time “in a speed in which our teams are comfortable with, and it’s quality over speed,” said co-CEO Rick Slater.

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The acquisition “greatly increased” Portland Products’ metal stamping capabilities from 65 tons up to 1,000 tons and more than doubled its physical capacity, as well as provided “significant value-add capabilities through Pro Stamp’s current customer base” in welding and automated assembly, Slater said.

“Pro Stamp’s expertise and broad capabilities in stamping strengthen Portland Product’s position as a premier supplier of metal stampings and assemblies,” Slater said. “By joining forces, we look forward to better serving our entire customer base by offering expanded stamping capabilities and a broad range of post-stamping value add processes.”

Founded in 2008, Pro Stamp serves the appliance, furniture, automotive and general industrial markets. Portland Products retained the company’s management team in the deal. The company’s workforce of 30 people remain at Pro Stamp’s facility on Alpine Avenue in Walker.

Terms of the transaction, which closed in July, were undisclosed. An entity tied to Portland Products’ owners bought the Pro-Stamp facility for more than $2.6 million, according to Walker property records.

“We are excited for the opportunities that this brings for our current and future customers,” Shawn Tilstra, the president of Pro Stamp, said in a statement on the deal. “Our values and mission are aligned, and the team is ready for the next chapter.”

Slater and business partner and co-CEO Ben Greve bought Portland Products earlier this year with the backing of Sleeping Giant Capital and after going through the Kalamazoo-based investment firm’s entrepreneurial training.

The new deal began to come together when Pro Stamp’s owners were introduced to Sleeping Giant Capital through mutual business connections. At the time, Slater and Greve were talking to Portland Products about buying the business, Slater said.

After several conversations with Pro Stamp’s owners, “we realized there were some very unique synergies we could capture with the two companies together,” Slater said.

Portland Products made the acquisition at a time when M&A activity in general has been down this year.

Despite the lower activity, solid companies coming to market should find a buyer, said Mike Brown, a partner and managing director at Grand Rapids-based Charter Capital Partners.

“In general, any good, profitable, growing business is pretty attractive right now, just because the market is still slow. It’s just a supply-and-demand function,” Brown said. “If a good business comes (to market), there will be interested buyers.”

Still, the market for small manufacturers is “pretty tough right now,” said Brown, noting that Charter Capital Partners generally handles deals involving companies with an enterprise value of $15 million or more.

“I do think it’s a little bit harder right now. There’s not as much capital for the small buyers,” he said. “If you’re a good, growing business, there’s a lot of buyers out there. It’s a little bit harder on smaller deals right now, though, than for big ones.”

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