Pfingsten Rolls Into Precision Bearings

Pfingsten has acquired Next Point Bearing Group (NPBG), a distributor of miniature bearings and related power transmission components, from Next Point Capital, the lower middle market private equity firm that assembled the business.

NPBG sells bearings, the ring-and-ball or ring-and-roller components that allow shafts, wheels and pivots to turn with little friction. Its products range from miniature and instrument bearings used in medical devices and robots to deep-groove and angular-contact ball bearings used in motors and machine spindles.

The company also sells needle, tapered and spherical roller bearings for heavy-load applications; mounted units that bolt directly to equipment frames; rod ends and airframe control bearings used in aircraft control linkages; and linear bearings and rails that guide sliding motion in automated equipment.

NPBG operates under the MMB Bearings and BMS Bearings names and distributes products from manufacturers including Timken, NSK and RBC Bearings. The company keeps more than $20 million of inventory at distribution centers on the East and West coasts.

Customers include original equipment manufacturers, distributors, rebuilders and end users in industrial machinery, material handling and conveying, aerospace and defense, motion control, agriculture, lawn and garden, and semiconductor equipment.

Much of NPBG’s work begins after a bearing arrives from the manufacturer. At its Valencia, California, facility, the company operates an ISO 6 cleanroom where miniature bearings are cleaned, inspected and re-lubricated. For small precision bearings, even a speck of dust can cause premature failure.

NPBG also bar-code labels, repackages and kits parts into ready-to-install sets for customer assembly lines. Its machine shop modifies standard components by cutting snap-ring grooves, trimming linear shafts, and drilling, milling and turning parts.

Valencia, California-headquartered NPBG, led by President John Burroughs, is based about 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles in the Santa Clarita Valley.

Next Point built NPBG around its California operation through the acquisitions of two East Coast distributors, MMB Bearings in 2022 and BMS Bearings in 2024.

MMB Bearings was founded in 1976 by Peter Barnett as a supplier of precision miniature bearings and grew into a stocking distributor of ball and roller bearings in Mooresville, North Carolina, about 25 miles north of Charlotte.

BMS Bearings, founded in 1957 in White Plains, New York, was owned by three generations of its founding family before its sale to NPBG in May 2024. BMS sells wholesale to distributors, rebuilders and manufacturers in agriculture, oilfield and mining, truck and trailer aftermarket, and powersports. The business now operates from NPBG’s Mooresville facility.

“NPBG is a trusted partner to its diverse customer base, pairing deep inventory availability with the technical expertise, responsiveness, and value-added services its customers depend on,” said Phil Bronsteatter, a managing director at Pfingsten. “We are pleased to begin a partnership with NPBG and support the company’s continued growth through enhanced eCommerce initiatives, product introductions, and expansion into new geographies and markets, both organically and via add-on acquisitions.”

Bearings are a roughly $9 billion to $10 billion market in the United States. Market.us estimates US bearing sales at $9.2 billion in 2024 and projects 9.6% annual growth through 2034. Fortune Business Insights estimates the US market at $9.8 billion in 2026 within a global market it valued at $50.2 billion in 2025.

Much of that volume reaches factories through industrial distributors, which keep replacement bearings in stock for maintenance departments and sell them alongside belts, couplings, gearboxes and motors. Competition centers on inventory availability, delivery speed and technical support in selecting the right part.

A handful of broadline distributors account for a large portion of the market. Motion, which traces its roots to 1946 in Birmingham, Alabama, has been owned by Genuine Parts since 1976 and generated about $9 billion of revenue in 2025. Applied Industrial Technologies, founded in Cleveland in 1923 as the Ohio Ball Bearing Company and listed on the New York Stock Exchange, generated about $4.6 billion of revenue in 2025. BDI, a Cleveland-based bearing distributor founded in 1935, is owned by Forge Industries, a family-controlled holding company founded in 1919 in Youngstown, Ohio.

Private equity has also been active in the category. Littlejohn acquired the distribution business of Kaman for $700 million in August 2019 and sold it, as Kaman Distribution Group, to Motion for $1.3 billion in January 2022.

The acquisition gives Pfingsten a bearing distribution platform with inventory on both coasts, precision cleaning and machining capabilities, and a base for add-on acquisitions, consistent with the firm’s preference for distributors that generate higher margins through value-added services.

Next Point Capital makes control investments in lower middle market companies with more than $10 million of revenue and more than $2 million of EBITDA and is willing to hold its investments for long or indefinite periods. The firm, led by Managing Partner Mark Mickelson, is headquartered in Henderson, Nevada.

“Pfingsten’s commitment to brand legacy, operational resources, and history of successfully scaling distribution businesses made them an optimal partner for NPBG,” said Mr. Mickelson. “With Pfingsten’s support, our team will continue to serve customers with the responsiveness they expect, while gaining the resources to broaden our product lines and reach new markets.”

Pfingsten invests in companies with transaction values of $15 million to $100 million, revenue of $20 million to $150 million and EBITDA of $3 million to $12 million. The firm makes platform investments in the US and Canada and add-on acquisitions of any size and location. Sectors of interest include manufacturing, distribution and business services. Within distribution, Pfingsten targets businesses that provide value-added services and generate gross margins above 20%.

Pfingsten is investing from its sixth fund, which closed at its $435 million hard cap in October 2023, above a $350 million target. Pfingsten was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Chicago. Founder Thomas Bagley serves as a senior advisor.

NPBG is Pfingsten’s second new platform since April 2025, when the firm acquired American Cutting Edge, a Miamisburg, Ohio-based distributor of industrial knives and blades.