Industrial group Columbus McKinnon Corporation is buying a German forging operation, Stahlhammer Bommern GmbH, for a total of $31.2 million, expanding its product portfolio for material handling tools and rigging to include high-capacity lifting hooks to 2,000 tons. These are products used extensively by the oil-and-gas, mining, construction, and heavy equipment industries.
Stahlhammer Bommern (STB) is a 103-year-old manufacturer of heavy-load single and ramshorn hooks with an 82,000-sq.ft. plant in Hamm, Germany. In addition to open-die forging it has tool-making and machining capabilities.
According to the buyer’s statement, STB’s 2014 revenue is estimated at $17.8 million, with an operating margin of 16%.
The purchase will be structured as $24.6 million in cash and $6.6 million of net debt to be assumed. The buyer noted that the purchase agreement includes “a potential $3.7 million earn-out, subject to achieving a certain profit target through calendar year 2015,” meaning that if STB meets unspecified profit targets this year Columbus McKinnon may be required to increase its purchase price by that amount.
Columbus McKinnon designs and produces handling products for moving, lifting, and positioning materials, including hoists, cranes, actuators, and rigging tools. Among its subsidiary operations is a closed-die steel forging company, Dixie Industries. It drew more than 40% of its $600 million annual sales revenues from overseas.
President and CEO Timothy T. Tevens said, "STB's brand is built on a long history of designing and manufacturing quality, reliable heavy-load lifting tools. STB expands our rigging tool offering with a much wider variety of eye, shank, and ramshorn lifting hooks and deepens our exposure to targeted global vertical markets, such as Oil & Gas, Mining, Construction and Heavy Equipment industries.”
The products are marketed in Europe and Asia, and Tevens added that Columbus McKinnon would extend STB's product reach through its own global sales and distribution network.
