CARY – After 95 years in operation, one of the Triangle’s biggest success stories, LORD Corporation, as we know it, will soon be no more.
Hours after it was disclosed that the privately–owned company is set to be sold to Parker Hannifin Corporation for a whopping $3.675 billion, LORD’s CEO Ed Auslander confirmed that multiple companies offered bids for the diversified technology and manufactory company.
Was there a bidding war?
“I wouldn’t describe it that way, but it was a well-thought-out process,” Auslander told WRAL TechWire.
And when it’s all said and done – the deal is expected to close in around “four to six months” — the firm will be fully absorbed.
“The name will change,” he said, adding that he suspects LORD’s branding of specific product lines will remain the same.
“Parker understands the brand of the companies that they acquire, and the LORD brand has a lot of value, as a lot of our other brands do. I suspect some, if not all, will be sustaining.”
However, he admitted that many of the acquisition’s finer details have yet to be hammered out. That includes a big question mark over upcoming layoffs that could affect its 350 employees based in the Triangle.
“It’s too early to speculate on that. We’re going to be working with them on all the various plans, and it’s going to evolve over the next month,” he said, adding: “Parker was first and foremost interested in our people. We’ve had a lot of success, and they admire that and wanted to carry it forward.”
He also remained tightlipped about his own future.
“We’re going to talk about that in the next months ahead, and we’ll map that out together,” he said. “I’m focused on continuing to support our outstanding customers, collaborating with Parker on the transition and integration planning, and making sure everything is well taken care of.”
95 years in the making
Founded in 1924 by patent attorney High Lord in Erie, Pennsylvania, the company moved its research and development (R&D) center to MacGregor Park in the Triangle in 1981. Later, it established its world headquarters in Cary in 1995.
These days, LORD has grown into a global enterprise with more than 3,000 employees in 26 countries – securing $1 billion in sales last year.
On the back of that milestone – along with other massive deals, including a contract with Boeing – Auslander said the time was finally right to sell.
“Even though we crossed the $1 billion revenue threshold last year, we’re a small-to-medium sized company, but we’re going after a much bigger program.
“We’re aspiring to be a Tier 1 aerospace company and a Tier 1 automotive systems solutions provider. Our customers are demanding it. It would be more advantageous to go after [that] as a bigger company. Operationally, that was a big driver for us.”
He remains optimistic that it’s a good result for the company – and Cary as a whole – even though Parker’s headquarters are based in Cleveland, Ohio.
“They value our site here in Cary. They’re going to be working with us to figure out how to best utilize all of our facilities.”
Cary-based LORD Corporation is being sold for $3.7B in all-cash deal
