Ubela Inc., a Milwaukee based holding company, has acquired Diamond Cut Inc., a Mequon-based high-end cabinet manufacturer.
Pentvia Partners, a Milwaukee investment banking firm, represented Diamond Cut in the sale. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Ubela was formed in 2009 by Wayne Staats, Hensley Foster and Richard Kranitz, three veteran Milwaukee-area entrepreneurs. The firm was formed to acquire companies that have a solid business plan and product but have struggled due to economic conditions or adverse business conditions.
Ubela’s business model calls for its portfolio companies to share administrative, sales and production resources, allowing the group to reduce costs and drive innovation, Staats said.
Before it acquired Diamond Cut, Ubela had three portfolio companies operating out of a shared facility at North 43rd Street and West Green Tree Road on Milwaukee’s far northwest side.
Diamond Cut’s reputation for high-end designs, production capabilities, and high-tech milling machines made it a natural addition to Ubela’s portfolio.
“They may be the most high tech high end cabinet company in southeast Wisconsin,” Staats said. “They have technology and skills we can use in our other companies. They bring some capability that will help us control costs.”
Diamond Cut was founded by Jim Hoffman, president of James Hoffman Builders Inc. Hoffman decided to divest himself of Diamond Cut to focus on his residential construction and remodeling business. Hoffman is no longer involved in Diamond Cut on a day-to-day basis, but has become a member of Ubela’s board of directors.
“I need the products this company makes (Diamond Cut),” Hoffman said. “Because they’re doing things in the display and other businesses, (Ubela) will need some of the same talent to do different things for other industries.”
Ubela will be adding several new employees to Diamond Cut, partly because of additional work the company will have with Ubela’s other companies, and also because it has a healthy stream of orders.
“We’re very optimistic about 2011,” Staats said. “Their first quarter will be very strong. And looking beyond the quarter, there are projects in the pipeline.”
