Acquisitions

Milwaukee-based Dawes Transport has extended its reach to an additional 23 state through the acquisition of Phantom Express, a Chicago-based less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier. The deal was effective July 1, said Dawes President and CEO Alan McBride.
Phantom provides coverage from Chicago into the east and southeast regions of the US.
Dawes’ plans are to enhance the current Phantom customer base in Chicago, which currently generates annual revenues in excess of $5 million, according to McBride. Dawes will then gradually expand the east and southeast service lanes for all existing locations.
“The use of the same state-of-the-art computer system, along with common operating procedures, will make the transition seamless and transparent for our customers and employees,” McBride said.
Condy Dixon, vice president of sales and marketing for Dawes, expects the new business segment to generate more than $10 million within the first year. The 20-year-old Dawes Transport had revenues of more than $128 million last year, Dixon said. “Adding the Phantom coverage area in 2001 will push our combined revenue results well over the $140 million level for this fiscal year,” Dixon added.
This is the fifth geographic expansion in as many years for Dawes through acquisition. The company has purchased or opened 13 terminal sites across the country since McBride became president and CEO in 1995.
Helen Gaudiosi, owner of the firm, serves as its chairwoman. The company is located at 9160 N. 107th St. on Milwaukee’s far northwest side.
Other mergers and acquisitions recently announced include the following:
– Custom Power Technology of Menomonee Falls has purchased the design, manufacturing and service rights to the Thor Technology Corporation Series 7000 AC Flux Vector Servo Control, in addition to inventory and manufacturing equipment, as part of an asset buyout.
Custom Power Technology is a designer and manufacturer of custom motor control and power-converting equipment for OEMs. It is at N93 W14475 Whittaker Way.
– Patrick Balistreri has purchased Al’s Window Cleaning Co. and changed the name of the firm to Al’s Window Cleaning and Building Services. He bought the company from Jeff and Julie Ausprung. Jeff Ausprung’s father Al Ausprung started the firm in 1957. Balistreri had been with Employment Times (a Small Business Times publication), and had earlier been co-owner of a local commercial cleaning company.
– Recore Industries of Franklin has acquired the operating assets of the Honeywell International oil cooler and heat exchanger operations based in Burkesville, Ky. and Indianapolis. Recore is a manufacturer of industrial cooling packages, off- and on-highway radiators and power-generation radiators. Its Franklin location is 9845 S. 57th St. It also operates in Dallas, where is recently acquired the engine-oil cooler and heat-exchanger assets of Dana Corporation’s Long Automotive business.
– C.P. Gauger, Inc., a Milwaukee-based developer of relational database systems, has purchased General Graphics, a Milwaukee-based graphic arts and publishing company. The acquisition has led to creation of a new electronic publishing division at CPG, and has increased the firm’s employment to almost 100. Terms of the sale were not disclosed. CPG was founded in 1953. Its clients include Harley-Davidson, Rand McNally, Wells Mfg. Corp., and Aldrich Chemicals.
– State Financial Services Corp. has completed its merger with LB Bancorp, Inc., converting the operations of Liberty Bank’s five locations (downtown Milwaukee, Lisbon Avenue in Milwaukee, Whitefish Bay, Fox Point and New Berlin) into the State Financial Bank structure.
“We are very excited about this new partnership,” said State Financial Service’s President and Chief Executive Officer Michael J. Falbo. “Allen Samson and his team share the same philosophy of community banking that we strive for every day and they will be an excellent addition to our company.”
Liberty directors Allen Samson, Mark Brickman and Jill Pelisek will join the board of directors of State Financial Bank. Samson will become vice chairman of State Financial Bank.
State Financial Services Corp. is a $1.2 billion financial services company operating through 28 locations in southeastern Wisconsin and northeastern Illinois.
– Anguil Environmental Systems, a Brown Deer-based supplier of air pollution control (APC) systems, has acquired Smith Environmental Corporation, of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. Both companies are global suppliers of custom-engineered technologies designed to control smog-producing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and other harmful, hazardous air pollutants that can result from industrial processes.
Anguil (www.anguil.com), founded in 1978 by owner and CEO Gene Anguil, posted 2000 sales of $15 million and has more than 1,000 installations globally. The company is a U.S. Chamber of Commerce “Blue Chip” award winner, being cited as “one of the best managed companies in America.”
Founded in 1925, Smith claims the industry’s largest installed base of APC equipment, with more than 2,500 installations globally since its first systems were introduced in the late 1960s. With 2000 sales exceeding $27 million, Smith was a subsidiary of Haden Schweitzer Corp., a manufacturer of automotive and industrial paint finishing systems and related equipment. The combined sales of Anguil and Smith will create one of the four largest VOC control suppliers in the world.
Anguil designs, manufactures and installs modular thermal and catalytic oxidizers and rotor concentrators for the chemical, printing, converting, electronics, composites, coating, food processing, and pharmaceutical industries. Additionally, Anguil’s Global Technologies division, also based here, specializes in emission control related to groundwater remediation and soil clean-up operations. In contrast, Smith designs, manufactures, and installs highly-engineered thermal oxidizers primarily for the forest/wood products, automotive, chemical, and pharmaceutical markets.