News

Press Release - Sale of Quality Tool Inc.

Quality Tool of St. Paul sold to Michigan-based Demmer

Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal - by Chris Newmarker, Staff Writer
Date: Friday, December 17, 2010, 11:34am CST

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Quality Tool Inc.’s owners are selling the St. Paul-based parts manufacturer to Michigan-based manufacturer Demmer Corp., the two firms recently announced.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Demmer shareholders set up a separate entity, Demmer Investments IV, Inc., to make the acquisition.

Quality Tool’s existing leadership, including CEO Chuck Proulx, will continue to operate the business.

Quality Tool is a more than 50-year-old company with more than 110,000 square feet of production space at facilities in St. Paul and Brookings, S.D. It provides precision metal fabrication, stamping, machining, bus bar, and design services to the medical, technology, telecommunications and defense industries.

Lansing, Mich.-based Demmer meanwhile provides fabrication, machining, assembly and integration to companies in the defense, aerospace, automotive, energy, and transportation industries.

“Quality Tool fits very well in Demmer’s diversification strategy,” Bill Demmer, Demmer Corp.’s president and CEO, said in a news release.

Lurie Besikof Lapidus Private Investment Banking advised on the deal. Justin Besikof, investment banking firm’s president, said in a news release that Quality Tool is Demmer’s fifth acquisition in 2010, and its third in the Twin Cities. Demmer also purchased Fridley-based ELO Engineering Inc. and Chaska-based Jonaco Machine this year.

“In 2011, Demmer plans to continue its robust acquisition strategy and is actively looking for other successful manufacturers of fabricated products across a variety of industries,” Besikof said.

Fredrikson & Byron advised Quality Tool on the deal, and Foster Swift Collins & Smith advised Demmer.