Racine-based R&B Grinding, LLC has been acquired by Whitebridge Capital Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm, for an undisclosed price.
R&B Grinding is a manufacturer of machined components to a variety of industrial customers, including Fortune 500 original equipment manufacturers. The company was founded by the Biddle family and employs more than 100 people in its multi-acre manufacturing campus at 1900 Clark St.
R&B Grinding was previously a division of Grand Prairie, Texas-based J&E Companies, which sold the company to Whitebridge.
Whitebridge Capital collaborated with Livonia, Michigan-based Maynards Industries and Opa-locka, Florida-based Holland Industrial Group throughout the acquisition process.
The acquisition is a “collaborative solution” to address several challenges facing J&E Companies, according to an announcement from Whitebridge Capital.
"We are delighted to once again work with our colleagues Taso Sofikitis and Stephen Wolf at Maynards to restore approximately 100 jobs to Racine while rebuilding a strong and growing company," said Todd DiBenedetto, partner at Whitebridge Capital. "With the renewed emphasis on domestic manufacturing and our background in revitalizing industrial businesses, we are confident that this will once again be a thriving business contributing to the local economy."
Whitebridge Capital provides both capital and hands-on management to distressed companies.
R&B Grinding will be renamed RB Industrial Manufacturing LLC to reflect the “range of machining processes the company can provide” from its 140,000-square-foot facility, according to a Wednesday announcement.
"Whitebridge partners DiBenedetto, Mark Heinze and Linda Budz have a strong history of taking distressed businesses to profitability by applying decades of hands-on experience," according to Wednesday's announcement.
The firm works directly with business owners to come up with “highly creative deal structures” to save manufacturing companies across the U.S.
Representatives with J&E Companies and R&B Grinding did not immediately respond to a request for comment left Wednesday morning.
