PLANO, Texas & MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Willis & Smith Capital and First Capital Partners, and their respective affiliates, announced today the acquisition of J&E Manufacturing LLC, and its affiliate, J&E Coatings LLC (together, “J&E”). The transaction closed on July 15, 2022.
Headquartered in Plymouth, Minnesota, J&E provides precision fabrication and machining services to a highly diversified client base including, among others, those in the medical, aerospace, commercial, and agricultural industries. J&E operates six facilities throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Mexico, totaling over 225,000 square feet of production space and directly employing approximately 215 employees.
J&E has been in continuous operation since 1972, and for the past 26 years, has been led by its current Chief Executive Officer, Michael F. Hansen. During his tenure, Mr. Hansen and his team have dramatically grown J&E through organic initiatives and 12 successfully integrated acquisitions. Mr. Hansen and J&E’s current senior management team will continue to manage J&E’s day-to-day operations. Willis & Smith Capital’s operating partner, Gene Simon, will provide additional operations support.
“We view J&E as a world-class manufacturing organization, and together with the capabilities of our portfolio company R&B Grinding, LLC, the increased capacity and scale now available to our collective clients couldn’t have been timelier,” said Eric Willis and Terrence Smith, Co-Founders of Willis & Smith Capital. Operating partner Gene Simon stated: “It’s clear the manufacturing environment is rapidly evolving, and consolidating with J&E demonstrates to our clients that when they need us most, we can and will deliver.”
Mr. Hansen added: “The transition of ownership went smoothly, and the experienced management team remains intact. We are prepared to work with Willis & Smith Capital on continuing the company’s stated goal of expanding our reach and capabilities in both the domestic and Mexican marketplaces.”
Fredrickson & Byron, P.A. provided legal advice to J&E.
Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren s.c. provided legal advice to Willis & Smith Capital.
Willis & Smith Capital is a private equity firm focused on lower middle market companies with up to $200M in annual revenue. For more information, please visit www.willis-smithcap.com.
For more information about J&E, please visit www.jecompanies.com.
