Fast-growing Maine manufacturer F3 MFG sold to Michigan company
File Photo / Maureen Milliken
Bill Cleaves, co-owner of F3 MFG in Waterville, explains construction of a truck body at the company's 140,000-square-foot plant. F3 has been acquired for an undisclosed price.
PHOTo / Tim Greenway
Joyce Galea is a partner and vice president of F3 MFG, which announced Thursday it has been acquired by a Michigan company, the Shyft Group Inc.
One of Maine’s fastest-growing companies, Waterville-based F3 MFG Inc., has been acquired by a Michigan corporation for an undisclosed price.
F3, which employs over 200 people and makes aluminum truck bodies and accessories, was purchased by the Shyft Group Inc. (Nasdaq: SHYF), a specialty vehicle manufacturer and upfitter, according to a news release Thursday.
No terms were mentioned in the release, but Shyft said the company paid for the purchase with available cash. Shyft had cash and cash equivalents of $23.9 million on June 30, according to its most recent quarterly report.
Attempts to obtain detailed information from the company were not successful. Spokeswoman Samara Hamilton told Mainebiz Friday that Shyft intends to keep on F3’s existing management and employees.
“We will in fact be retaining the leadership team and workforce,” she said. “The team is highly skilled and was responsible for growing the business in an incredibly short amount of time. As such, they were a key part of our purchase decision.”
In 2019, F3 had sales of $25 million and ranked as Maine’s third fastest-growing private business on the prestigious Inc. 5000 list, for the second year in a row, with a national ranking of No. 868. Over the previous three years, the company’s revenue grew 490%.
F3 launched in 2016. In 2019, Mainebiz honored co-owner Joyce Galea as Business Leader of the Year in the large-company category.
At its 140,000-square-foot production facility on Trafton Road, F3’s operations include aluminum manufacturing, finishing, assembly and installation of DuraMag truck and van bodies, as well as Magnum-branded truck cab protection racks.
“We are delighted to be joining the Shyft family of brands,” F3 founder and co-owner Bill Cleaves said in the release. “Shyft’s leading reputation, approach to manufacturing and innovative culture are well aligned with F3. Together, we are excited about the opportunities to grow the DuraMag and Magnum brands and see them distributed nationally.”
F3 will join Shyft’s Specialty Vehicles business unit and continue to go to market under the DuraMag and Magnum brands, according to the release.
Shyft reported sales of $757 million in 2019, and currently has a market capitalization of $710.2 million. The company employs 2,900 people in nine states. Based in Novi, Mich., Shyft was founded in 1975 as Spartan Motors Inc.
Much of its growth has come through acquisitions, including the 2019 purchase of California-based Royal Truck Body for $89 million.
“This acquisition dovetails nicely with last year’s Royal Truck Body acquisition, and will provide our expanded national network of dealers, fleet managers, owners and operators the choice of two industry-leading brands and highly complementary product sets, wherever they do business,” said Shyft Group President and CEO Daryl Adams.
Earlier this year, Spartan changed its name to Shyft.
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