Eastern Takes Next Step Toward $100 Million EBITDA Goal With Addition of New Growth Business
NAUGATUCK, Conn. – The Eastern Company has announced that it has acquired 100% of the outstanding shares of Big 3 Precision Products, Inc., a reusable packaging manufacturer, and Big 3 Precision Mold Services, Inc. (together “Big 3 Precision”) for $81.7 million from TVV Capital. Big 3 Precision is a leading provider of turnkey packaging solutions.
Through its two segments, Big 3 Precision Products and Big 3 Precision Mold Services, Big 3 Precision serves diverse markets including truck, automotive, plastic packaging products, packaged consumer goods and pharmaceuticals. Big 3 Precision Products works with leading manufacturers to design and produce custom returnable packaging to integrate with their assembly processes. Big 3 Precision Mold Services is a global leader in the design and manufacture of blow mold tools. Based on its unaudited, internal financial statements, Big 3 Precision generated sales of $72.2 million and Adjusted EBITDA1 of $13.4 million for the twelve months ended June 30, 2019. Moreover, based on its audited financial statements, Big 3 Precision has posted double digit sales growth in each of the last 5 fiscal years.
The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive, excluding transaction expenses and purchase accounting adjustments, and accretive by at least $0.40 per share to EPS in Fiscal 2020. To fund the transaction, Eastern has refinanced its existing credit agreement with a new $100 million term loan and $20 million revolving credit facility.
“In acquiring Big 3 Precision, we are adding a substantial new growth business and moving Eastern closer to our long-term goal of generating $100 million in EBITDA. This transaction, our third acquisition in three years, represents another step toward our ambition of building a larger company that has a strong presence with key customers and in key markets,” said August Vlak, President & CEO of Eastern. “Consistent with our disciplined approach, this transaction checks the boxes of our stated acquisition criteria: strong intrinsic economics, including an attractive margin profile and high cash flow generation; a robust business model in attractive niche markets we understand; and a committed and capable management team.”
Added Mr. Vlak, “We believe Big 3 Precision will become a strong contributor to our top line, earnings growth and cash flow. Going forward, to create value from this investment, we intend to execute a multi-pronged plan that leverages Eastern’s management disciplines and operating approach; takes advantage of Eastern’s customer relationships to accelerate further market expansion; and expedites growth through bolt-on acquisitions. In addition, just as we have significantly de-levered our balance sheet over the past two years, we intend to reduce the debt from this transaction expeditiously. We look forward to working with Todd Riley, Big 3 Precision’s President, and his strong team to achieve our shared operational and financial objectives.”
“My colleagues at Big 3 Precision and I are enthusiastic about becoming a part of Eastern to fully capture the organic revenue and margin expansion potential in our businesses. We are also excited about the opportunity to take advantage of the fragmented nature of our markets to augment Big 3 Precision through bolt-on acquisitions,” said Mr. Riley.
In 2016, Big 3 Precision acquired Sur-Form Corp, a reusable packaging manufacturer.
