Lewiston electrical contractor has new owners — its 70 employees
Courtesy / DeBlois Electric
Workers at the Lewiston headquarters of DeBlois Electric are now owners of the 53-year-old company.
After 53 years in business, a prominent Lewiston electrical contractor has new ownership, but the proprietors are familiar to the 70 employees.
DeBlois Electric Inc. said this week it has become 100% owned by workers through an employee stock ownership plan. The company joins a growing number of Maine employers that have adopted this type of structure.
“We have always had a family and field-first culture, so empowering our employees with an ownership stake makes sense for us,” the company’s president, Mitch DeBlois, said in a news release.
Ray DeBlois, the company's CFO, added, “We are thrilled to bring in a new generation of ownership to DeBlois Electric through our employee stock ownership plan. This represents our longstanding commitment to the future and success of the company.”
The ESOP is designed primarily as a retirement benefit for the company’s merit-shop employees, while helping retain and attract staff, according to the release. The plan will supplement DeBlois Electric’s 401(k) plans and health benefits, and issue ownership shares to all participating employees at no cost.
The private company, with offices at 1033 Sabattus St., was started by Willie and Gaetane DeBlois in 1967. Under management of their sons, Mitch and Ray, DeBlois Electric has grown and worked on a variety of large commercial and residential construction projects across Maine. They include a 104,000-square-foot Augusta office building for the state Department of Health and Human Services, the Bowdoin College Watson Ice Arena in Brunswick, and several jobs for St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Lewiston.
As Mainebiz has reported, companies throughout the state have implemented ESOPs in recent years, often for reasons similar to those of DeBlois. In the construction field, businesses such as Landry/French and Cianbro Corp. are employee-owned. Last fall, Augusta printing company J.S. McCarthy transferred ownership to its 200 employees.
For more information about ESOPs, see this Mainebiz “how to” article.
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