For Chrissy Nardini, making the decision to sell her family’s business was bittersweet.
Nardini is the third generation in her family to lead American Metals Supply, a St. Louis-based wholesale distributor of sheet and coil steel, prefabricated ducts, fittings and HVAC products that was founded by her grandfather in 1962.
But an unsolicited, and eventually spurned, offer to buy the business, combined with uncertainty over the next generation’s interest in carrying the family ownership forward, prompted American Metals to seek out the ideal partner.
It found one in MacArthur Co., a St. Paul, Minnesota-based wholesale distributor of building supplies, which announced May 10 that it was acquiring American Metals. Terms of the deal, which closed earlier this month, weren’t disclosed.
While the deal ends five decades of family ownership, it shifts the business into the hands of an employee-owned company, which will give American Metals’ 155 employees the chance to participate in the MacArthur Co.’s employee stock ownership plan. This was attractive to Nardini, who said that one of American Metals’ top priorities is its commitment to improving employees’ lives.
“(The decision was) good for my family financially, but also very good for the employees,” Nardini said. “I can feel 100% comfortable looking all them in the eye and saying, ‘This is a chance for you guys to have something as good as what you’ve had (at American Metals), or possibly even better.’”
‘Top sheet metal salesman’
American Metals was founded by Nardini’s grandfather Al Hassebrock in 1962 in Springfield, Illinois, after leaving his job as a salesperson at a building materials distribution company, according to the company’s website. A year later, his former employer sold its sheet metal business to Hassebrock, encouraging its customers to stick with him in a note that read: “We sincerely hope you will continue to give Al Hassebrock the same loyal support you gave him over the past year while he was getting his business established. We have always considered him the top sheet metal salesman in this area.”
His son, and Nardini’s father, Steve Hassebrock, took over in 1971. Nardini joined the company as CFO in 1997 after working as a public accountant at Ernst Young and Kerber, Eck & Braeckel LLP. In 2006, she took over the company.
Two generations later, under Nardini’s leadership, the company reported 2022 revenue of $198 million, with 54 local and 155 total employees, making it one of the region’s largest women-owned companies, as well as one one of the region’s largest and fastest-growing private companies.
The decision to sell came out of discussions last June with a private equity firm that was interested in buying American Metals. Though it decided selling to private equity wasn’t the right move, the conversations piqued the family’s interest in further exploring a potential sale.
“(The conversations with the private equity firm) just brought to the forefront, ‘What are we going to do?’” Nardini said. “There is another generation in our family. However, some of them aren’t sure if they want to enter the business, some of them are too young … so it made us think.”
The new structure
American Metals will operate as an independent subsidiary of MacArthur, retaining its product line and nine locations, according to a press release. Nardini, who will continue as the unit’s president, said that all American Metals employees are being retained, with the headquarters remaining in St. Louis.
With 2022 revenue of $1.8 billion, 110-year-old MacArthur Co. has about 1,100 total employees, she said. MacArthur and its subsidiaries, with over 50 locations across the U.S., distribute building products including insulation, lumber, HVAC products and roofing, as well as manufacture pre-engineered buildings.
MacArthur officials said the acquisition combines two complementary distribution businesses and is the latest step in its goal to “increase its product portfolio while protecting its core offering,” and that there are almost no areas in the country where the two overlap or compete with each other.
“American Metals Supply shares our approach to business, with a commitment to consistent, stable growth by providing exceptional customer service and the desire to manage an organization that focuses on long-term retention of engaged team members,” Barrett Moen, CEO of MacArthur Co., said in the release. “We both have a strong heritage as successful distribution businesses that share an understanding of what it means to be industry leaders. With the acquisition of American Metals Supply both companies will be able to provide our customers with an enhanced portfolio of products.”