Pride Manufacturing forms partnership

GUILFORD- The ownership of Pride Manufacturing has expanded with the announcement this week that the company formed a partnership with a New York-based private investment firm.

The partnership with Bessemer Holdings will give the company an infusion of capital for its products and will provide for future growth, according to a company official.

Randy Ellis, president of Pride Manufacturing, said Thursday that some of the ownership has changed, but the shareholders still include Pride family members and the company’s senior management. The shareholders, along with Bessemer, have acquired the assets and business of the company to form Pride Manufacturing Co., LLC.

Bessemer Holdings is a private equity firm with a history of cultivating prosperous companies dating back to the early 1900s, Ellis said. It has substantial capital and a successful track record of investing across a wide range of industries, often in cooperation with founding families, he added.

“Our partnership with Bessemer is an important milestone for the company,” Ellis said

Pride Manufacturing is the world’s largest producer of golf tees and a leading manufacturer of other turned hardwood products, such as cigar tips, furniture parts and toy parts. The company, which also acts as a broker for hardwood logs, manufactures 3,000 products and employs 420 people in facilities in Maine, Wisconsin and Florida.

“The real reason for the partnership is to set up for further growth,” Ellis said. “What we’re looking for is new opportunities for growth, new products and acquisitions.”

Ellis said he met Wednesday with all of the company’s employees and told them of the partnership.

“Our immediate plans are to keep everything the same,” he said Thursday. He said there were no changes planned for employment.

Pride will remain independent and continue to manage the two sawmills and four manufacturing facilities in the three states with its current management team, according to the company official.

“This partnership is a tremendous growth opportunity for our company,” Ellis said in a prepared statement. “It provides a solid capital base that will enable us to expand and diversify our product offering to better serve our customers for years to come.

“Our family’s ongoing investment and the continuation of existing management demonstrates Pride’s continuing commitment to its customers, employees and the communities in which it operates,” Ellis said in the statement.

According to Ellis, Stan Pride and Ariel Ellis, who led the company to unprecedented growth for more than 45 years, have retired from the company’s board of directors.

“Without their vision and direction, Pride would not be the pre-eminent wood-product manufacturer that it is today,” he said in the statement.