May River Capital, a Chicago-based private equity firm focused on lower middle market industrial growth companies, in late April acquired Spiroflow, an internationally recognised manufacturer of flexible screw conveyors, aero-mechanical conveyors, and cable and chain drag conveyor systems. Spiroflow is also a leading manufacturer of bulk bag filling and discharge rigs and in recent months has further specialised in development of integrated control systems.

Spiroflow, with head offices and manufacturing facilities in Clitheroe, UK (where the company began), and Monroe, NC, USA will become part of May River’s new automated handling solutions (AHS) platform of companies (www.automatedhandlingsolutions.com), along with sister company Cablevey Conveyors, specialising in manufacture of tubular drag cable conveying systems based in Oskaloosa, Iowa, USA.

“We’ve come a long way during the past 50-plus years, as we have built a company that has become an important and reliable partner to our customers,” said Spiroflow founder and co-chairman Michel Podevyn. “We could not be more excited for the Spiroflow team to take the company to the next level through its new partnership with May River Capital.” Whilst Spiroflow Ltd enjoys a strong presence in the British Isles, the same cannot be said for continental Europe, possibly because most of group development activities in recent years have been expended in North America through Monroe-based Spiroflow Systems Inc.

“With the additional financial and operational resources May River now brings to the company, this gives us access to the investment capital we need to drive our growth plans. It assures that our future will continue to be defined by a record of innovation and expansion that will serve our customers, employees and the entire Monroe, North Carolina and Clitheroe, UK communities,” said Spiroflow Systems Inc. CEO and co-chairman Jeff Dudas.  Dudas will remain with Spiroflow as the interim CEO during the transition period.

“Spiroflow’s portfolio of conveying, storage, automation integration and system designs, combined with a North American and European presence, have positioned the company perfectly to catalyse this new platform’s growth,” said May River executive resource group member Brad Sterner, who will continue as CEO of Cablevey and becomes executive chairman of the new AHS platform. “We will leverage May River’s ownership of both the advanced material processing (AMP) process equipment platform and the new AHS specialty conveyance platform to drive continued market share gains in our served global, high growth end markets of food, pharmaceutical, chemical and general industrial sectors.”

“We are thrilled to welcome Spiroflow and Cablevey to the May River portfolio. We see an extraordinary opportunity to invest and grow these market-leading brands under one platform. With these foundational assets, we expect to further accelerate the profitable growth both Spiroflow and Cablevey have seen during the past several years,” said May River partner Steve Griesemer. “Under the new platform, Cablevey and Spiroflow are uniquely positioned to serve this growing demand and build upon their track records of delivering innovative solutions to global customers.” www.mayrivercapital.com

 

Founder of Spiroflow, Michel Podevyn, pictured (centre) in the autumn of 2019 on the occasion of winning a lifetime achievement award from the UK-based PPMA (Processing and Packaging Machinery Association)
 

« Back