BlackHawk buys Chicago Hi-Speed and Quaker Tool
BlackHawk Industrial announced the acquisition of Chicago Hi-Speed Tool & Supply and Quaker Tool Grinding.
Both businesses are based in Chicago. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Chicago Hi-Speed is an industrial distributor of cutting tools, abrasives, fluids and engineered products along with a wide variety of MRO supplies. It has been serving end-user customers in the metalworking industry since 1951.
Quaker Tool has built and reconditioned high-performance special tools for world-class manufacturers since 1946.
The acquisitions represent the ninth acquisition of local industrial distributors by BlackHawk Industrial since the fall of 2010, and follows BlackHawk’s recent acquisition of Precision Supply. BlackHawk has now made nine acquisitions of 18 companies in just 37 months.
With the acquisition of Chicago Hi-Speed, BlackHawk broadens its geographical footprint and sales penetration in the Chicago and Illinois marketplaces, and further strengthens the company's presence in Indiana and Iowa.
“We continue to attract and acquire the best local distributors in a given market to become part of our business we are building in North America. We believe that strong local sales talent, like the team found inside Chicago Hi-Speed, wants to be aligned with a strong distributor with a culture that truly values their contribution to the business,” said Bill Scheller, CEO of BlackHawk Industrial.
Morry Levin will be the general manager of one Chicago location, Frank Bertucci will be general manager of the other location. Dale Jensen will continue to be general manager of BlackHawk's Rockford, Ill., location. All three will report to Lisa Mauer, senior vice president of regional development.
Scheller also said: “Quaker Tool Grinding joins BlackHawk Pumps and Services, BlackHawk Fluid Services, Tool Fabrication, STS Grinding, and X-Press Tool along with four BlackHawk Weld Centers as growing and important service offerings. We will continue to target and acquire businesses that provide unique services to our customers and can be expanded to the entire BlackHawk Industrial customer base across the United States.”
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