Acquisitions

Our acquisition philosophy is built on these three words and for good reason.

At ParkOhio, we know the complexity of selling a business is stressful. As a business owner, the choices you are about to make do more than solve supply chain challenges and infuse capital into the business. They affect the lives of every employee.

For the owners we’ve worked with, vetting potential partners quickly becomes less about the details of the deal and more about our leadership experience (it’s extensive), history (it’s influential) and cultural fit (that’s important to us, too).

Likely, you can relate. Top of mind is whether ParkOhio – or any potential partner – can align with your business values. Will ParkOhio help you meet your customers’ expanding needs or invest in the systems and solutions necessary to retain your employees and make the business flow more efficiently?  

Most of all, will ParkOhio treat your employees – your friends and family – with the compassion and respect they deserve?

We will. And we do. Every day.

ParkOhio is a family-controlled public company. We’re a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll, as our CEO, Matt Crawford, might say. That blend of public and private is vital to the way we do business and the way we engage with potential brands.

ParkOhio invests in both successful brands and brands we know will become successful. Companies with good customer tenure, a solid management team, and a unique or specialty product. We make a long-term commitment to the organizations that sit under the ParkOhio umbrella, nurturing growth without getting in the way of the day-to-day decisions that advance the business.

It is a strategy crafted by Edward F. Crawford when he acquired a substantial stake of ParkOhio in June 1992, and it has served us well ever since. Crawford’s approach was to provide exemplary leadership while developing a decentralized culture. One that delivers to our brands both the support and autonomy they need to succeed.

That philosophy is alive and well today at ParkOhio. We keep our corporate office small and our decision-making process flat. We yield most authority to the brand to drive decision-making for impact.

ParkOhio benefits from this culture as well. It allows us to focus our efforts on refining our acquisition strategy, ensuring that future organizations extend our brand, whether they provide access to new territory or become a natural extension of the businesses we own.

There’s no secret to what success looks like – and that goes far beyond the bottom line. For ParkOhio, that means empowering employees to make the best decision for the brand – and giving superstars the opportunity to shine.

What does that look like in real life? It looks like one go-getter sales representative who is now president of a $70 million ParkOhio business. Or the plant manager who now sits in the C-suite of a ParkOhio brand.

It also looks like the successful executive charged with growing a brand – and having its trajectory head the opposite way. That’s real life, too. We work in cyclical businesses, and sometimes the wins are against you. With a little patience and a lot of care, today, that brand is thriving.