Midwestern distributors Value Added Distributors and Exotic Automation & Supply announced Thursday that the companies have merged.
VAD, based in Shawano, Wisconsin, provides hoses, tubes, seals and couplings from 18 facilities spanning the Midwest and South, while suburban Detroit-based Exotic distributes hoses, fittings, pneumatic and hydraulic components, rubber parts and other industrial MRO supplies from 20 locations in Michigan and Indiana. VAD announced a “partnership” with private equity firm Rotunda Capital Partners early last year.
Company officials said that the combined business would see “significant infrastructure and scale advantages,” and that the deal represented a step toward building a leading national fluid power and automation distributor.
The management teams at both companies will remain with the combined business, including VAD CEO Mike Kostelnik and Exotic President Steve Orlando, who will serve as CEO and president, respectively, of the merged company. Exotic CEO Tom Marino will serve on the company’s board and be a “significant equity holder” in the business.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“Not only are both VAD and Exotic two of the most respected Parker Hannifin distributors in the country, but together we can provide a level of product selection and value-added distribution services … that will be unmatched in our combined territory,” Kostelnik said in the announcement.
“The combination of VAD and Exotic allows us to serve a broad range of MRO, industrial OEM and mobile customers,” Orlando added. “Integrated, we become a super-regional, scaled industrial fluid power and automation distributor and fabricator, able to serve customers with a vast product portfolio and enhanced service capabilities.”
