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Industrial Flow Solutions logo

Overview

Industrial Flow Solutions (IFS) was established as part of May River’s strategy to build a mid-sized flow control platform that specializes in designing, manufacturing, selling, and servicing pump/fluid management solutions for harsh, rugged environments.  The strategy began in 2017 with the acquisition of BJM Pumps and was accelerated in early 2019 with the merger of Stancor Pump & Control Solutions and BJM.

Industrial Flow Solutions, through the BJM and Stancor trade brands, specializes in highly engineered pumps utilized in harsh environments, including extreme temperatures and caustic material applications.  The electric submersible pumps and controls are used for severe service applications across a variety of industries, such as wastewater, chemical, oil-and-gas, mining, food & beverage, and power transmission.

Deal + Operating Thesis

The pump sub-category of flow control is an $80B+ global market and the second-largest industrial product category behind motors.  The pump market is highly fragmented and populated by specialized companies with significant engineering content, product application-specific design, and strong margins.  The abundance of small founder, family, and entrepreneur owned companies with under $50M in revenue makes for a compelling buy and build opportunity.

May River Capital’s investment thesis in IFS is comprised of several key elements.  Due to the intended retirement of BJM Pump’s senior leadership team, May River introduced a new CEO, COO, and CFO into the company within the first three months of closing the deal.  The new senior leadership team then had to immediately focus on streamlining operations, improving supply chain management, optimizing sales & marketing, implementing a new corporate strategy, and executing the consolidation opportunity.

The acquisition of Stancor in early 2019 was a significant milestone, giving the company important end-market diversification, added scale, sales channel synergies, and a two-plants-to-one facility consolidation opportunity.

Partnership + Results

ADDITIONS TO SENIOR MANAGEMENT

May River introduced a new CEO, CFO, and COO into the company within three months of closing BJM.  Leading the investment was May River’s Executive Resource Group (ERG) member Chris Stevens, who held senior leadership positions at Honeywell, Pentair, Tyco, Fisher Scientific, and McKinsey & Company.  Secondary leadership of IFS was strengthened through onboarding a new President, Corporate Controller, Director of Engineering, and VP of Supply Chain.

IMPROVED EFFICIENCY & STRATEGY

May River and the senior leadership team streamlined operations, which included a significant improvement of business systems, consolidation of three sites into a single site, and implementation of a refreshed go-to-market strategy.  Cross-selling across BJM and Stancor was also implemented to optimize shared distribution channels.

BUY-AND-BUILD STRATEGY

The transformative merger of BJM and Stancor provided critical mass as well as product and end-market diversification.  The integration has been achieved through the establishment of a single leadership team, a shared facility and headquarters, a common ERP system, and harmonized branding between BJM and Stancor.