Jason Industries Acquires DRONCO

Jason Industries, Inc. (Milwaukee, WI), parent company to a global family of manufacturing leaders in the finishing, seating, automotive acoustics and components markets, has announced that it has completed a transaction to acquire DRONCO GmbH (Wunsiedel, Germany), one of Europe’s leading manufacturers of abrasives.

DRONCO becomes an integral part of the Jason Finishing Group, a business unit and a leading global producer of technical and maintenance brushes, polishing tools and compounds with a portfolio that includes well-recognized brands, such as Osborn International GmbH (Burgwald, Germany), a global player in the industrial brush and polishing market, JacksonLea, Lippert-Unipol and Sealeze. The deal allows Jason Finishing Group to enter a targeted and faster growing $6 billion abrasives market segment and solidifies the company’s position as the complete surface treatment and finishing solutions provider.

DRONCO’s full product range, which includes cutting, grinding and abrasive discs, diamond tools, ceramic abrasives, sandpapers and technical brushes, is the ideal complement to Jason Finishing Group’s product catalog. The acquisition opens Jason Finishing Group products to customers and distribution channels where it currently has a limited presence, while allowing the company to become a “one-stop shop” within the finishing industry.

Under its new ownership, DRONCO will be positioned for continued growth. Immediately, their products will be embedded into Jason Finishing Group’s well-established, global sales and logistics network, thereby making the DRONCO line available to a much broader market.

Geographically, this strong product portfolio will be distributed to global markets, with a focus on further expansion in Europe and North America. To support North American sales growth, logistics and distribution of DRONCO products will be added at Jason Finishing Group’s Richmond, IN, facility by the end of 2015. In 2016, DRONCO will be expanded into emerging markets to meet increased demand for abrasives in developing and growing economies.

“They are an outstanding strategic fit for our organization and we are excited to welcome the company and its employees into the Jason family,” said David Westgate, the chief executive officer at Jason. “With them in our portfolio, we reinforce our status as the leader in finishing. Our customers will benefit from access to this line of quality products, while theirs will benefit from the availability of our extensive line of brushes and polishing tools from brands they recognize and may already trust for their surface treatment and finishing needs.”

”By leveraging the numerous inherent synergies between brands, we expect to achieve considerable long-term growth that will benefit each company in our portfolio,” said Florestan von Boxberg, the president of Jason Finishing Group. “They have earned a privileged reputation as an innovative, well-run company that produces high-quality products. We are proud to add this organization to our portfolio and excited about the value this acquisition brings to our joint customers.”

Jason intends to maintain the Wunsiedel site as the primary manufacturing and R&D center for bonded products. In addition to its Wunsiedel site, DRONCO has three subsidiaries in the UK, Sweden and France. Thus, Jason Finishing Group acquires a global abrasives company that is recognized for quality and product innovation.

In fact, DRONCO recently introduced a next-generation line of cutting and grinding discs with a lifespan that is three times that of its counterparts. Through this acquisition, Jason Finishing Group expects there to be a sharing of technologies that will lead to the development of innovative new products for Osborn and other brands within the overall portfolio.

www.jasoninc.com

www.dronco.com

www.osborn.com