Shipston Equity Holdings Acquires Compass Automotive Group

HAMPTON, NH--(Marketwired - November 02, 2015) - Shipston Equity Holdings, LLC (Shipston), a privately owned company, today announced the acquisition of Compass Automotive Group, LLC (Compass) a premier aluminum design and casting company. Effective immediately, Compass will be renamed Shipston Aluminum Technologies, International (SAT). Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

SAT is a leader in the design and manufacture of complex safety critical aluminum high-performance castings found in chassis, suspension, engine and driveline systems primarily for automotive industry. SAT has expertise in modified and proprietary low pressure permanent mold and squeeze casting processes that are used in applications requiring high-integrity precision. Its customers include virtually all North American, Asian and European OEMs as well as major tier 1 suppliers. The company employs approximately 400 people at manufacturing operations in Indiana and Michigan.

Shipston Chairman and CEO Michael D. Dingman, the majority shareholder, is a leading international industrialist known for his accomplishments in forming and leading several very successful diversified companies.

"We are fortunate to welcome SAT and its entire management team into Shipston as we continue our growth," Dingman said. "The addition of SAT is complementary to our core precision machining company, Busche Enterprise Division, Inc. (Busche). Our fundamental principles in valuing employees, customers and suppliers defines us as we pursue aggressive expansion for the long term support of our customers. We will continue to implement safety critical and technologically advanced systems and move forward incorporating world class practices with a focus on technology, weight reduction, science, robotics and other matters that will bring value to our customers, suppliers and employees. SAT will report to Nick A. Busche, the President and Chief Operating Officer of Shipston's Advanced Machining and Materials Technologies Group. With our topflight management team, equity resources and financial expertise I expect further growth through other acquisitions and organic development within this business segment of Shipston."

"I'm very pleased with the acquisition of SAT as it represents one milestone in our strategy to continue our growth in precision machining under the Busche brand," Busche said. "The SAT castings expertise complements our world-class finished machining strength at Busche. Under Shipston, SAT's values will be aligned with Busche's culture; focusing on the long term operating fundamentals of quality, delivery and service. Through collaborative design, casting, validation, machining and assembly we can offer a comprehensive package under our combined operations of the Shipston Machining and Materials Technologies Group. We are poised to provide even more value to our customers with our team of 1,200 employees. Most importantly and through the strength of our values and performance, which are firmly established at Busche, the company that was founded almost twenty years ago, we are extraordinarily confident that our growth will continue as an industry leader."

"The combination of a veteran operating team and our financial resources will provide the building blocks for future growth and acquisitions in this industry sector as well as others," Dingman said. "My objective is to make this my most successful operating company and position it for a solid future through acquisitions like my management team did with Henley, Fisher Scientific and Wheelabrator just to name several. I reasonably believe that within the next twelve months Shipston will approach revenues of $1.0 billion with both solid earnings and an excellent capital structure, positioning us for dynamic growth with complementary diversification."

For additional information about Shipston Equity Holdings, visit shipstongroup.com.