In buying Morbark, Stellex Capital Management also acquires products sold under the Boxer brand. Morbark purchased Boxer Equipment late in 2012.Photo: Morbark
A private equity firm’s purchase of family-owned Morbark, a maker of wood chippers and related equipment, “is focused on providing growth capital and resources to significantly expand” the company, Morbark said in a statement on the deal.
Since December 2012, Morbark also has owned mini-skid-steer manufacturer Boxer Equipment. It’s unclear whether debt taken on in acquiring Boxer may have contributed to Morbark’s purchase by a firm specializing, according to its website, “on middle-market companies in distress.”
Contacted Tuesday, a Stellex Capital Management spokesperson said the firm generally does not comment on its deals and had no comment on the Morbark acquisition other than remarks included in a prepared statement earlier.
The earlier statement, from Stellex principal David Waxman, said Morbark is “well positioned to grow in the coming years, and we are confident that the capital and resources we bring will fuel that growth.”
Lon Morey, Morbark’s CEO and son of the company’s founder, said in the prepared statement he was confident “that the Stellex group will be able to take Morbark to the next level of excellence and growth.”
Norval Morey founded the company in Winn, Michigan, in 1957. That two-employee blacksmith’s shop now employs nearly 500 people at its 1.1-million-square-foot manufacturing plant in Winn.
