Michigan holding company that buys small manufacturers, keeps them local, and moves them to long-term employee ownership
Holding Company, Employee Ownership Platform
Michigan, United States Message the Buyer
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We are a Michigan holding company built to give manufacturing owners a way to step back without selling to a buyer who will strip, move, or flip what they built. We buy established machine shops, foundries, and metal fabricators in Southeast Michigan with roughly $3 million to $25 million in revenue and 15 to 150 employees. Each company keeps its name, its people, and its place, and we never resell. Over time, ownership moves to the employees through an employee ownership trust, a cooperative, or an ESOP, whichever fits the shop. A strong fit is an owner who cares about the team and the community, wants a transition on their own timeline, and is open to seller financing or a staged handoff.
STEWARDSHIP PATH
Partial Liquidity / Retained Ownership, Staged Buyout / Phased Transition, Seller Financing / Seller Note, Patient Capital Friendly, Community / Place-Based Ownership, Employee Ownership (ESOP), Employee Ownership (EOT / Trust), Worker Cooperative
BUSINESS VALUES
Community Wealth Building, Local / Place-Based Commitment, Employee Wellbeing, Transparency & Accountability, Responsible Growth
Industries of Interest:
- Manufacturing
Details Of The Buyer
Mission & Vision as an Acquirer:A generation of Michigan manufacturing owners is nearing retirement, and too many of their companies end one of three ways. They close, they get folded into a competitor, or they sell to a financial buyer who adds debt and plans to sell again within a few years. Each path can cost a town an employer and cost workers the value they helped build.
We exist to offer a fourth path. We buy healthy, established shops from owners who want their company to outlast them. We keep each business independent and local, and we move ownership to the people who do the work. Our vision is a growing family of employee-owned manufacturers in Southeast Michigan that share services such as financial reporting, purchasing, and benefits, while each shop keeps its own name, leadership, and culture.
We are permanent owners, not a fund with a clock, and we never resell a company. We believe this is how the region keeps its manufacturing base, its jobs, and the wealth those jobs create.
Our Culture & People:We are a small founding team with complementary strengths. Our operational partner has 17 years in manufacturing, including continuous improvement leadership on the shop floor, and now builds software for plant teams. One co-owner leads strategy and finance, built our business model and capital plan, and has worked with governments and Fortune 500 companies on industrial operations and critical infrastructure. The other co-owner leads our governance and research work, spent four years building AI tools and doing AI research at two Fortune 15 companies, and now studies how worker-owned companies take on automation. In the shops we buy, we plan to run open books, teach everyone to read them, and give workers a real say in decisions, including how new technology comes in.
Our Intent as Stewards:These are our commitments to a seller.
We keep the company's name, location, and people. We do not buy to consolidate, relocate, or cut our way to a return.
We never resell. We hold each company for the long term and move it to employee ownership over time.
We go at the owner's pace. An owner can stay on through a transition period or step back on a clear schedule, and we invest in developing leaders from inside the shop.
We keep debt modest. Each shop sits in its own company, so trouble at one cannot spread to another, and we hold a cash reserve for hard years.
We run open books, train employees to read them, and give workers a real voice, including in how new technology and automation come into the shop.
We stay small at the center and add shared services only when they save the shops real money.
Our Experience as Buyers and Stewards:Our operational partner has spent 17 years in manufacturing, leading continuous improvement and now building tools that help plant teams track and improve daily performance.
Our strategy and finance lead built the company's business model and capital plan with input from employee ownership practitioners, lenders, and lawyers. And he has worked with governments and Fortune 500 companies on critical infrastructure, from the power and cooling systems behind modern computing to a cross-border innovation corridor. Our governance and technology lead spent four years in AI at two Fortune 15 companies, first as a machine learning engineer and then in research. They are now finishing a doctorate in information science at a top public research university and have been a visiting researcher at the university of one of the world's largest worker cooperative networks, studying how worker-owned companies stay strong as automation spreads. That research grounds our approach to giving workers a real voice in technology decisions.
Capital Readiness:Raising acquisition capital
Stewardship Models We Actively Support:Long-term private ownership, Employee Ownership (ESOP), Worker Cooperative transition, Trust Ownership, Hybrid stewardship models
What The Buyer is Looking For
Preferred Transaction Type:Full acquisition, Majority investment, Employee ownership transition
Preferred Deal Structure:Seller Financing, Esop, Trust Model: EOT/PPT, Open to Structuring
Target Revenue Range:$3M – $5M, $5M – $10M, $10M – $25M
Target Employee Range:11–25, 26–50, 51–100, 101–500
Target EBITDA Range:$500K – $1M, $1M – $3M
Target Transaction Timeline:12–24 months
Intended Hold Period:Indefinite / permanent ownership