Hoover to buy Multi-Tool, Multi-Plastics

By Keith Gushard

03/30/07 March 29, 2007 11:32 pm

— Conneaut Lake businessman Eric Hoover plans to buy another Crawford County tooling and machining firm and its related businesses.
Hoover, owner of Excalibur Machine Co., will acquire Multi-Tool Inc. and Multi-Plastics Inc. of Saegertown and Multi-Plastics of New Mexico Inc. in Las Cruses, N.M., from their present owners, James Johnston and Victor Camasi Sr.
Excalibur bought Sipco Molding Technologies of Meadville, a tooling and machining firm, in October 2006.
Terms of the pending deal with Multi-Tool, Multi-Plastics aren’t being disclosed, said Gary Alizzeo, an attorney with Shafer Law Firm of Meadville, which represents both Excalibur and Multi-Tool and their affiliated firms.
“It’s confidential — they’re private companies,” he said Thursday. “In April, it will be done.”
Hoover, Johnston and Camasi all were out of town on vacation and unavailable for comment.
Multi-Tool, founded in 1974, designs and builds precision plastic injection molds used by the automotive and electronics industries. Multi-Plastics, established in 1980, is a custom injection molder and does work primarily serving electronics and consumer industries. Multi-Plastics New Mexico plant was established in 1998.
The three Multi entities have a total of 110 employees.
Excalibur, founded in 1988, makes large parts primarily for locomotives, rail cars, material handling systems and equipment for mining, glass handling and heavy construction. It and its affiliated firms have approximately 125 employees, Alizzeo said.
The acquisition, when completed, will be the second in about six months by Hoover and Excalibur.
In October 2006, it bought Sipco Molding Technologies of Meadville for an undisclosed sum. Sipco, founded in 1959, does design, mold building and precision machining and plastic parts manufacturing primarily for the medical and consumer products industries. It has about 65 employees.
No layoffs are planned in the wake of the Multi-Tool, Multi-Plastics acquisitions, Alizzeo said, adding that employees of all the companies were informed of the pending deal last Friday.
“We’re expecting job growth,” he said. “They’re in complementary markets. We’re really excited about the combination of such well-established companies.”
Excalibur has posted sales growth of more than 350 percent in about the past five years, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.
In April, Hoover was named the SBA’s National Small Business Person of the Year for 2006.
In addition to Excalibur, Hoover has three other companies: Camelot Consolidated, a sales organization; Blade Transport, a trucking firm; and Lancelot Construction, a construction firm.
He and his wife, Annette, also established the Excalibur Charitable Foundation in 2006 to aid area charities and offer high school scholarships.