CGI Automated Manufacturing, a portfolio company of CORE Industrial Partners, has acquired Tenere from Watermill Group.
Tenere is a sheet metal component and assemblies manufacturer and a service provider to the information and communication technology, fiber and renewable energy end markets.
Tenere products include custom sheet metal enclosures, chassis, cooling systems, and edge computing hardware (edge computing is a distributed computing system that brings computation and data storage closer to the sources of data). The company’s installed products include a mix of custom and purchased components (disk drives, routers, switches) and mechanical assemblies.
Headquartered in Dresser, Wisconsin, and led by CEO Brian Steel, Tenere operates four facilities with a combined 600,000 square feet, including two facilities in Wisconsin, a dedicated injection molding facility in Westminster, Colorado, and a new state-of-the-art facility in Monterrey, Mexico.
Watermill Group acquired Tenere in 2012. “Tenere’s story is a testament to what can be achieved when Watermill’s strategic approach is embraced by a highly skilled company,” said Julia Karol, Watermill’s president and chief operating officer. “We at Watermill are thrilled by Tenere’s growth during our tenure and believe the business is well-positioned to capture its next phase of growth and innovation with CORE.”
CGI is a provider of sheet metal fabrication with service capabilities that include laser cutting, CNC punching and machining, forming, robotic welding, fastener insertion, and assembly. The company specializes in short lead times for mid-to-high volume sheet metal production parts, assemblies, and weldments in stainless steel, aluminum, galvanized, cold rolled, or hot rolled materials.
CGI has a specialization in serving customers in the electrical transmission and distribution sector and also serves the warehouse automation, technology, aerospace & defense, medical, food, and industrial sectors.
CGI, led by CEO Carey Chen, is headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Romeoville with 650,000 square feet of production facilities in Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Indiana, Massachusetts, and Oklahoma.
“Tenere’s extensive, automation-driven soft and hard tool fabrication fleet expands CGI’s sheet metal capacity, while the company’s injection molding offering brings a synergistic new manufacturing capability to the platform,” said Mr. Chen.
“Tenere’s unique combination of dynamic, early-stage collaboration capabilities and an expansive manufacturing footprint allows the company to support customer innovation cycles and quickly deliver flexible solutions at scale, in alignment with the broader strategic direction of the platform,” said Matthew Puglisi, a partner at CORE. “Further, the acquisition of Tenere helps expand the platform’s geographic reach while appreciably deepening its presence in high-growth, technology-focused end markets.”
The acquisition of Tenere is the seventh add-on acquisition completed by CGI since its formation by CORE in August 2021. The six earlier add-ons include Massachusetts-based DFF Corporation (March 2022), Michigan-based Haven Manufacturing (February 2022), Minnesota-based Richlind Metal Fabricators (February 2022), Oklahoma-based Precision Metal Fab (December 2021), Wisconsin-based Advanced Laser Machining (October 2021), and Illinois-based Elite Manufacturing Technologies (June 2022).
The combined CGI platform now covers approximately 1.4 million square feet with more than 2,000 employees across 14 facilities in 8 states as well as Mexico.
Chicago-based CORE makes control equity investments of up to $100 million in North America-based companies that have revenues of up to $200 million and EBITDA of up to $20 million. Sectors of interest include a range of special
Boston-based Watermill Group invests in manufacturing, value-added distribution, and business services companies that have $35 million to $400 million of revenue. Sectors of interest include manufacturing, value-added distribution, and business services.
Lincoln International was the financial advisor to Tenere. Debt for the acquisition was provided by CION Investment and Fifth Third Bank.
© 2022 Private Equity Professional | July 22, 2022
