Source:www.sctimes.com
Heartland Glass Company, a Waite Park-based business with about 25 employees, has merged with Brin Northwestern Glass Companies, Minneapolis. A new employee stock ownership plan will cover all employees who work under the new organization.
For Heartland owner Bill Sullivan, it’s also a return to the fold. Brin CEO Doug Nelson hired Sullivan out of college to work at Brin in 1984. Six years later, Nelson bought Heartland Glass, which began in 1980 under different ownership, and installed Sullivan as manager and minority partner. In 2007, Sullivan bought out Nelson and the other investors to own the company himself.
“Heartland has always been one of Brin’s largest customers and Doug would occasionally come up and have lunch,” Sullivan said. “I’d been approached by another company about being acquired and I asked his advice. Ultimately, he said ‘Why don’t you let me buy you out?’ We started talking about it in January and things heated up around April.”
And in July it became a reality. Heartland Glass will continue under its existing name as a subsidiary of Brin Northwestern. Sullivan will remain president of Heartland Glass and assume the role of vice president at Brin. It’s also likely that Sullivan, 51, ultimately will succeed Nelson, 69, as leader of an organization that currently includes three other divisions – two in Minneapolis and another in Duluth.
The acquisition was the result of a share transaction. Brin Northwestern acquired stock in Heartland Glass and Sullivan acquired stock in Brin Northwestern.
Sullivan said there were several other reasons for the move.
“The ESOP is huge because employees now have a stake in the company,” Sullivan said. “I want to take care of them because they are the reason we’re in business today. There also will be a greater opportunity for advancement in a larger company and the buying power of that should give us a competitive advantage compared to if we remained on our own.”
“Heartland has always been one of Brin’s largest customers and Doug would occasionally come up and have lunch,” Sullivan said. “I’d been approached by another company about being acquired and I asked his advice. Ultimately, he said ‘Why don’t you let me buy you out?’ We started talking about it in January and things heated up around April.”
And in July it became a reality. Heartland Glass will continue under its existing name as a subsidiary of Brin Northwestern. Sullivan will remain president of Heartland Glass and assume the role of vice president at Brin. It’s also likely that Sullivan, 51, ultimately will succeed Nelson, 69, as leader of an organization that currently includes three other divisions – two in Minneapolis and another in Duluth.
The acquisition was the result of a share transaction. Brin Northwestern acquired stock in Heartland Glass and Sullivan acquired stock in Brin Northwestern.
Sullivan said there were several other reasons for the move.
“The ESOP is huge because employees now have a stake in the company,” Sullivan said. “I want to take care of them because they are the reason we’re in business today. There also will be a greater opportunity for advancement in a larger company and the buying power of that should give us a competitive advantage compared to if we remained on our own.”