Case Study: A.S. Search Partners and Novastone Capital Advisors Acquire UMECC

“UMECC has always been a pioneer in its industry and is an expert in steel and metallurgical manufacturing equipment. I’m honored to be carrying such a strong American steel industry legacy forward and continuing the path this company has built as we step into this new phase of growth.”

Adam Salmen, Managing Partner, A.S. Search Capital

Axial Members

Member Type	Search Fund	Broker
Axial Member Since	2021	2011
Headquarters	Dobbs Ferry, NY	Alberta, Canada
Axial Closed Deals	1	1
Axial Profile	View Profile	View Profile

Acquired Business

Location: West Chester, OH

Description: UMECC provides a wide range of high-quality products to the Steel Industry directly from its manufacturers. Offerings include all major metallurgical equipment, spare parts, and refractories. UMECC is the local extension of its international manufacturing group, which operates a large variety of manufacturing facilities. 

Reason for exit: The sellers were a group of technical experts in the steel manufacturing equipment industry. The board and management were all starting to retire and they wanted to keep the company alive into the next phase of ownership. They found a succession solution with Adam Salmen (A.S. Search Capital LLC) and Novastone Capital Advisors, who provide not only succession solutions but also work to keep the legacy alive with renewed investment and focus.

Website  |  LinkedIn

Adam Salmen was on the hunt for a well-established industrial or manufacturing company via his search fund, A.S. Search Partners, backed by ten single-family-office LPs. Enlisting the partnership of Novastone Capital Advisors (NCA), Adam joined NCA’s Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition Program to aid him in his search.

NCA is a 37-person global firm that partners with experienced, mid-career entrepreneurs with deep industry knowledge to identify, acquire, and grow privately held companies across Europe, the U.S., and Canada. As of Q4 of 2024, NCA is partnered with 30 active searchers.

Having joined Axial in June 2021, Novastone Capital Advisors has used the platform to support 20+ acquisition processes. In late 2021, NCA and A.S. Search Partners created a buyside project on Axial to aid in their search process for a relevant industrials business. After reviewing more than 70 deals on the platform over two years, Salmen came across a Custom Metallurgical Equipment Supplier project in the Eastern Midwest represented by Abhishek Makkar of Canadian-based Maxima Divestitures Group in Q4 2023.

After executing an LOI shortly thereafter, Salmen — alongside NCA, Maxima, and the UMECC teams — went on to successfully navigate a number of hurdles throughout a comprehensive deal process, ultimately completing the transaction in October of 2024.

Deal Data