Ladish Gains $50 Million for Value Creation

Ladish Co, Inc. has secured $50 million in long-term financing through a private placement of senior notes with several institutional investors. The forging, investment casting, and machining organization did not identify any specific purpose for the new capital, though Ladish CFO Wayne E. Larsen said the notes, together with a revolving line of credit will “allow us the flexibility to continue creating value for our shareholders through internal expansion and acquisitions."

Wisconsin-based Ladish operates Ladish Forging in Cudahy, WI, and ZKM Forging in Stalowa Wola, Poland. It also include Diecast Tooling in Racine, WI; Stowe Machining Inc. in Windsor, CT, Valley Machining in LaCrosse, WI; and Pacific Cast Technologies, a diecaster in Albany, OR.

The company recently agreed to pay $59 million for Chen-Tech Industries, an Irvine, CA, producer of near-net shape forgings in titanium, nickel, and iron-based super alloys, mostly for single-aisle, regional, and business aircraft manufacturers.

Also, Ladish is completing a melt shop expansion at Pacific Cast Technologies in Oregon, and has announced plans to build a new diecasting operation in Mexico. However, according to reports the latter project has been delayed by delayed by site-selection problems.

The company explained the senior notes bear interest at a 6.41% annual rate, and a maturity date of September 2, 2015. U.S. Bank and SPP Capital Partners LLC advised Ladish on the private placement.