Hamer
The Business
Hamer, LLC (www.hamerinc.com) is a Minneapolis, Minnesota-based designer and manufacturer of automated packaging equipment and complete systems serving a variety of growing industrial and commercial markets. The Company markets its proprietary standard packaging equipment to manufacturers or processors of a wide range of bulky, yet free-flowing products that are typically contained in large bags, including industrial (e.g., aggregates, cement, fertilizer, minerals, chemicals), lawn and garden (e.g., soil, mulch), agriculture (e.g., animal feed/nutrients, grains) and packaged-ice. Hamer’s proprietary product portfolio includes horizontal form, fill and seal machines, bag hangers, robotic palletizers, fillers and sealers, and other ancillary bagging equipment.
The Industry
Hamer participates in the $8 billion U.S. packaging equipment industry. Within the packaging equipment industry, Hamer has emerged as a leading provider of automated bagging equipment and robotic palletizers to markets that are transitioning from manual bagging to semi-automated/automated bagging. Continued demand for Hamer’s solutions will be driven by (i) strong overall economic and packaging market conditions, (ii) manufacturers focusing on reducing labor costs and improving packaging line productivity, (iii) adoption of new packaging technologies, including automation and robotics, and (iv) end users purchasing “turnkey” packaging systems.
The Process
Prestwick Partners initiated this transaction and acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Hamer and private equity groups Hanover Partners and Tuckerman Capital. Prestwick designed an M&A process, prepared marketing materials, evaluated acquisition proposals and negotiated the transaction with Duravant, a Chicago, Illinois-based engineered equipment company and Odyssey Investment Partners, a New York-based private equity group. Prestwick’s process included both domestic and international strategic acquirers as well as private equity groups. This is the fourth transaction Prestwick has closed for Hanover Partners and Tuckerman Capital in the last four years.
