Auxo Investment Partners acquires steel die maker

Auxo Investment Partners acquires steel die maker
The deal marks Auxo’s ninth acquisition in the firm’s inaugural investment fund, Auxo Growth Holdings I LLC, which closed in fall 2018. <strong>Courtesy Auxo Investment Partners</strong>

A local private equity firm acquired a Chicago-area manufacturer of corrugated steel rule dies.

Grand Rapids-based Auxo Investment Partners said it acquired Elmhurst, Illinois-based GC Dies.

The deal marks Auxo’s ninth acquisition in the firm’s inaugural investment fund, Auxo Growth Holdings I LLC, which closed in fall 2018.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Founded in 2000, GC Dies has 50 employees and operates from a 37,500-square-foot facility where it makes flat corrugated, rotary corrugated and flat steel rule dies.

The purchase of GC Dies follows Auxo’s previous acquisitions of cutting die manufacturers Atlas Die, AtlasFlex, Bernal Rotary Dies, DieCraft Engineering & Manufacturing and Midway Rotary Die Solutions.

“We are bringing the industry’s leading converting solution companies together to create the most comprehensive service offering available in the industry, and the addition of GC Dies is an important step in the process,” said Jerry Mosingo, CEO of the Auxo Die Holdings platform. “As we continue to expand … we know our fully integrated solutions can meet virtually any challenge.”

Auxo said the acquisition presents an opportunity to modernize Auxo Die Holding’s equipment and manufacturing facilities in Chicago. Company leaders plan to move Atlas Die’s Chicago operations to Elmhurst, where GC Dies has the capacity for continued growth.

Auxo Die Holdings’ platform of converting solutions companies will formally unite under a single brand featuring a fully integrated, end-to-end service offering in Q1 2021.

“We’re excited to bring GC Dies into our expanding platform and see great potential to expand its customer footprint,” said Jeff Helminski, a managing partner with Auxo. “We believe that adding a corrugate offering further bolsters our efforts to help shape the products that touch the lives of people — everything from heart valves and ventilator tubes to cereal boxes, gaskets and surgical masks.”

Auxo Managing Partner Jack Kolodny added the acquisition fits nicely into the growing Auxo Die Holdings platform.

“When we considered the full impact of this acquisition, it was obvious that adding GC Dies would make us even more competitive in the Midwest marketplace and enhance our overall platform, which was already the broadest selection of tooling for the converting industry,” Kolodny said.

Advisers and lenders on the transaction included Miller Johnson, Barnes & Thornburg, BDO USA, Oxer Capital, Mercantile Bank, Aon, Krauter & Co, Advantage Benefits Group and Apex Companies.

Auxo

Founded in 2016 by veteran investors and operators Helminski, Kolodny and Fred Tedori, Auxo Investment Partners is a private equity firm that invests in manufacturing, industrial, distribution and business services companies in North America with an EBITDA cash flow of $2-$15 million.

Other acquisitions include Paramount Tube and Euclid Medical, niche manufacturers of custom-engineered spiral wound tube and pharmaceutical packaging; M/G Transport Services, an inland barge transportation and logistics company; Prestige Stamping, a high-speed manufacturer of custom-engineered stampings for the fastener industry; and Andrie, a Great Lakes marine services company serving customers with challenging safety and specialty material handling and transportation requirements.