Pace Industries, which describes itself as "North America's largest full-service aluminum, zinc and magnesium diecasting company," is getting larger thanks to a pending merger with Port City Group. The combined company will have 21 plants in the U.S. and Mexico, with diecasting, machining, manufacturing, and finishing capabilities. Customer markets include automotive, lighting, electrical, and recreational product manufacturing, among others.

The value of the merger and the schedule for the combination were not announced.

The new company will have estimated sales of $600 million, Fayetteville, AR-based Pace Industries indicated.

Port City Group manufactures aluminum and zinc diecastings, mechanical assemblies, and injected molded plastics. Headquartered in Muskegon, MI, it has five diecasting plants. It will become an operating division of Pace Industries.

"Blending our strengths will result in a formidable automotive supplier and the preferred non-automotive supplier in the die casting industry. Combining our two organizations will create a stronger, more diverse company with the capability to deliver better quality, service and value to our customers."

John Essex will remain CEO of Port City Group and join the Pace board of directors. He also will become one of its largest shareholders of Pace, and oversee the group's combined automotive growth strategy.

"Over the last few years, it became apparent that we needed a platform for our growth that would provide us greater geographical reach than what we had with our Michigan-based facilities," according to Essex. "This merger will provide needed capacity in closer proximity to some of our customers in North America, while expanding our production capability."

(Source from: Foundry Management & Technology Aug 2015)