The manufacturer of machined components will be renamed RB Industrial Manufacturing, LLC.
CHICAGO—Whitebridge Capital Partners, LLC is acquiring certain assets of R&B Grinding, a Racine, Wisconsin-based, 67-year-old manufacturer of machined components, according to a release from Whitebridge.
R&B Grinding, previously a division of J&E Companies, serves a variety of industrial customers, including Fortune 500 OEMs. It will be renamed RB Industrial Manufacturing LLC, in recognition of the full range of machining processes the company can provide from its 140,000-square-foot facility.
Whitebridge, Maynards Industries, and Holland Industrial Group collaborated on the transactions and are reported to have a long-standing and shared history of successfully navigating complex transactions. The acquisition of R&B Grinding assets represents “a collaborative solution to the challenges facing J&E Companies and underscores the firms’ ability to provide thoughtful, value-driven outcomes in special situations,” the release stated.
“We are delighted to once again work with our colleagues Taso Sofikitis and Stephen Wolf at Maynards to restore approximately 100 jobs to Racine while rebuilding a strong and growing company,” said Whitebridge partner Todd DiBenedetto, in the release. “With the renewed emphasis on domestic manufacturing and our background in revitalizing industrial businesses, we are confident that this will once again be a thriving business contributing to the local economy.”
Whitebridge partners DiBenedetto, Mark Heinze, and Linda Budz are reported to have a strong history of taking distressed businesses to profitability by applying decades of hands-on experience.
Maynards Industries is described as “a global leader in transforming undervalued assets into profitable opportunities.” For more than 120 years, the company has transacted in 42 countries by providing capital, expertise, and strong industry relationships. It recently acquired Wolf Industrial Advisors and appointed Stephen Wolf president of the industrial solutions group.
Holland Industrial Group brings more than 40 years of expertise in industrial auctions, asset management, and real estate solutions.
“We were able to align with Maynards to revitalize R&B and carve out a strong U.S.-based business that can capitalize on the renewed national focus in American manufacturing,” Heinze said in the release. “We believe there is an opportunity to restore many manufacturing businesses that struggled due to the past emphasis on offshoring. That trend is now reversing and we are well-positioned to help companies reorganize.”
Whitebridge Capital provides both capital and hands-on management to distressed companies. “Our focus is on working directly with current ownership, current operators, current or new financiers by calling on highly creative deal structures to save U.S.-based manufacturing businesses,” Budz said in the release.
Prior to forming Whitebridge, DiBenedetto was a co-founder and president of Big Shoulders Capital, where he led numerous successful turnarounds for more than 15 years, according to the release.
Heinze specializes in organization restructuring through vendor consolidation, sales program re-design, recapitalization, cash management, and manufacturing process improvements. He has worked as a business owner, operator, consultant, and investor for more than 22 years to successfully guide companies through deep challenges to return them to profitable operations, the release stated.
Budz has more than 20 years of legal and financial experience. She has spent nearly 10 years in business development roles, sourcing opportunities through insolvency proceedings involving commercial and industrial manufacturing companies, the release said.