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America's Mechanix Wear acquires Chicago Protective Apparel

19 Aug '21

2 min read

Pic: Mechanix

Mechanix Wear, a manufacturer of high-performance work gloves, has announced that it has acquired Chicago Protective Apparel (CPA), a 108-year-old, family-owned manufacturer of personal protective equipment (PPE). Mechanix Wear is a portfolio company of middle-market private equity firm Gryphon Investors. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

CPA manufactures and offers an extensive line of over 20,000 products for arc flash, foundry, and welding applications. The company’s previous owners, Scott and Myrna Sherman, are retiring after 30 years of service. The vice president of the company, John Merikoski, will remain with the company as director of production, along with other members of the management team, Gryphon Investors said in a press release.

EC M&A served as the financial advisor to Gryphon and Mechanix Wear. Kirkland & Ellis acted as legal advisor to Gryphon and Mechanix Wear, and Williams, Bax & Saltzman acted as legal advisor to CPA.

“Our two-year partnership with Gryphon has accelerated our growth and positioned us to expand beyond our core line of work gloves. CPA’s culture of quality and focus on innovation synchronise with Mechanix Wear’s mission of bringing the latest design and material innovation to gloves for working hands. Moving forward, we will integrate and expand on CPA’s product portfolio by looking beyond conventional ideas to innovate the most advanced PPE possible. We are excited to collaborate with John and his team,” Mechanix Wear CEO, Michael Hale said in a statement.

“We’ve been happy to partner with Michael and his team and see the impressive growth they have continued to achieve as Mechanix Wear celebrates its 30th year of Hand Built Trust. We are excited to welcome CPA into our partnership,” Ryan Fagan, managing director in the consumer group at Gryphon said.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (GK)