Sterling Rope acquired by N.C.-based company
File Photo / Tim Greenway
Carolyn Brodsky, co-founder and president of Sterling Rope Co., said her manufacturing company has been acquired by Sherrill Inc. but will remain in its Biddeford plant.
Sterling Rope Co., a Biddeford manufacturer of life-safety rope, cord, and hardware, has agreed to be acquired by Sherrill Inc., a North Carolina company that claims to be the largest distributor of arborist tools and equipment in North America.
In a news release Tuesday, Sherrill said there are no plans to change day-to-day operations at Sterling and that it will remain in Biddeford. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The acquisition will further integrate the Sherrill manufacturing and distribution model within the work and recreational climbing industries, the company said.
Senior management will remain in place at least for a year, Sterling co-founder and President Carolyn Brodsky told Mainebiz Tuesday.
She said she initiated discussions of a merger with Sherrill in 2018.
“Sterling is in a really good place, we’re very profitable, but I’m 60 and I didn’t want to get into a position where I had to sell the company,” she said.
The choice of Sherrill was a natural, she said. The two companies’ markets complement each other, and she feels the additional resources of Sherrill will fuel Sterling’s future growth.
“This allows us to go to the next level,” she said, adding that the Biddeford plant will serve as a platform for Sherrill’s product development.
She was also reassured by Sherrill’s pledge to keep Sterling’s 50 employees in Biddeford, and said that Sherrill has signed a seven-year lease on the current site.
“I was looking for someone who would take care of the business and its employees the way I have,” she said. “This is bittersweet, but it’s really good for us.”
Brodsky and her then-husband, Willie Crear, founded Sterling in 1992. The company was originally based in Massachusetts, but soon moved to Scarborough and then its current location, at 26 Morin St. in Biddeford. In 2012, Brodsky was selected as one of five Mainebiz “Women to Watch.”
Sherrill was founded in 1960 and is based in Greensboro, N.C. It was acquired by a private equity firm, Denver-based Platte River Equity, in January.
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