(December 1, 2011)
BlackHawk Industrial, Tulsa, OK, a distributor of industrial supplies, has acquired three businesses: Tool Service Corp., Tool Fabrication Corp. and Fluid Services Corp. BlackHawk is No. 40 on MDM’s list of the top 40 industrial distributors.
Tool Service, Milwaukee, WI, is an industrial distributor serving the metalworking industry.
Tool Fabrication, also based in Milwaukee, builds high-performance special tools for manufacturers. Fluid Service, based in Janesville, WI, is a provider of Turn-Key Fluid Management Programs for metalworking customers.
Tool Service and its related companies represent the fifth acquisition of industrial distributors by BlackHawk Industrial and follows the recent acquisitions of Oklahoma-based Duncan Industrial, Arkansas-based Rogers Industrial, Nebraska-based Fuchs Machinery and Illinois-based Sanders Tools and Supplies.
With this most recent acquisition, BlackHawk adds five additional branch locations and deepens its geographical footprint into the Central region of the U.S.
Founded more than 60 years ago, Tool Service is an industrial distributor of cutting tools, abrasives, fluids and engineered product along with MRO supplies serving end user customers primarily in the Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota markets.
Bill Scheller, CEO of BlackHawk Industrial, said: “We are excited to add the talented employees of Tool Service as part of our growing family of operating divisions within BlackHawk Industrial. Tool Service, led by Lisa Mauer, has a very long history of being a supplier of choice with strong customer and vendor relationships in its local marketplace. We believe that Tool Service will be further enhanced as part of Blackhawk Industrial as a result of additional operating scale, management resources and a broader product offering. We are also excited to share the combined resources of BlackHawk Industrial with the customer and vendor base of Tool Service.”
Scheller said BlackHawk will continue to look for additional U.S.-based industrial distributors to acquire as it builds out its business.
Lisa Mauer, former CEO and owner of Tool Service, will continue to lead Tool Service in the local market. Mauer will be a Senior Vice President and a member of the BlackHawk Industrial commercial leadership team.
Mauer said of the acquisition: “As I looked at an ideal transition of ownership of our family-owned business at Tool Service, it was very important to me to find a true steward that would carry on what my family and our employees have built over the years. As I looked at the culture and leadership style that BlackHawk is building, we believe it matches the direction we have found successful at Tool Service.”
BlackHawk Industrial Distribution, Inc. was formed by Bill Scheller, former CEO of industrial master distributor ORS Nasco, and Brazos Private Equity Partners, LLC, a leading Dallas-based private equity firm, to implement an active buy-and-build strategy in the industrial distribution market.
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