PORTLAND, Maine—PRC Industrial Supply, a subsidiary of Singer Equities and SBP Holdings, has acquired all the assets of Ace Conveyor Services and plans to hire the firm's entire staff.
Portland-based PRC, formerly known as Portland Rubber Co., is a sales and service company specializing in conveyor belt, industrial hose and fluid power components. As business grew on the conveyor belting side, the distributor needed to bolster its resources.
That led to the purchase of Belgrade, Maine-based Ace Conveyor after several months of negotiations between the firms, according to Kevin Easler, PRC vice president and general manager. Terms of the transaction weren't released, but Tom Hudson, Ace president and founder, will stay on as a sales and service rep for PRC.
"As customers across New England are increasingly coming to PRC for their conveyor belt requirements, we realized we needed more help," Easler said. "Tom and his crew are hard working and well respected throughout New England. Tom and I both realized by joining forces we could achieve our shared mission for continued long-term growth as well as provide long-term growth opportunities for our co-workers."
Hudson, who has more than 35 years of experience in the industrial rubber business, said he was pleased with the deal.
"I built my company over the past 20 years from the ground up, and trained many vulcanizing technicians over the years," he said. "We've stayed small, and that has made us nimble and very efficient at what we do, but it has come at the cost of growing to a sustainable level."
PRC has three locations and 28 employees, offering such services as on-site conveyor belt installations, industrial hose supply and in-house repairs of hydraulic pumps, motors, valves and cylinders. Houston-based Singer Equities and SBP Holdings have a total of 58 locations that provide industrial rubber and wire rope and rigging products and services to a broad range of industrial end markets in the U.S. and Canada.
No details were provided on how many Ace employs.