Akoya Capital, back in September 2020, partnered with Trinity Private Equity Group to establish Beacon Manufacturing Group, a platform company that has since made a series of acquisitions as add-ons. Managing Director Bob May says when he joined the firm a few years ago, there were four platforms that the firm was looking to create in the plastics and polymer space.
"Our goal was to create what I would call an industry-leading, custom precision molded products and services company with manufacturing facilities across North America to serve customers with what I would call complex challenges and demanding performance requirements in highly specified and used markets," May says.
Recently, the firm acquired, through a combination of debt and equity, two companies: Donnelly Custom Manufacturing Co., the platform's first acquisition, and Built-Rite Tool & Die. In identifying the targets, May says the firm established the acquisition criteria for the platform and spent several months identifying and pursuing potential targets they thought were a good fit. Then, during the height of the pandemic, they were able to successfully close on their first acquisition, Donnelly, a custom molder in Alexandria, Minnesota, serving the industrial market. Built-Rite was acquired soon after, along with its affiliated companies Reliance Engineering and LSR Engineering, which offered a broad range of capabilities focused on serving the medical, biopharma and life sciences markets, along with the aerospace, defense and electrical markets.
Donnelly was a proprietary deal and Built-Rite was sourced from a third-party advisory firm. Both companies not only met Beacon's acquisition criteria, but were also nicely aligned with the firm's vision and plans for the platform.
"Today, both companies have exceeded expectations and delivered exceptional sales growth, and really outperformed our financial projections since we acquired them," May says. "On a combined basis, the two companies will do over $75 million in sales at 18 percent EBITDA margins or better in 2021."
May spoke at last year's Chicago Smart Business Dealmakers Conference about the formation of Beacon, its acquisitions, and how macro challenges such as labor are affecting the platform's progress. Hit play on the video above to catch the full interview.
