PARIS — Local modular home company KBS Building Solutions has been purchased by a Minnesota-based manufacturer in a deal reportedly worth $10.5 million.
Aetrium, a publicly-traded company based in St. Paul, Minn., announced the purchase from private owner Robert Farnum in a news release last week. The company is part of the global semiconductor industry.
“Aetrium is excited to expand its operations through the acquisition of KBS, which we believe will generate lone-term value for our shareholders,” Jeffery E. Eberwein, chairman of Aetrium’s board of directors, said.
According to an April 4 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Aetrium paid $5 million in cash for the company, as well as a $5.5 million promissory note with a 4 percent annual interest rate.
Steve Miller, the controller and secretary at KBS, said there are no layoffs or other changes expected for the company, although its name is expected to change to KBS Builders.
“It’s all business as usual,” Miller said. “The only change is the name of the company that owns us.”
The company specializes in making commercial and residential modular buildings at two manufacturing facilities in South Paris and Waterford. According to Miller, the company has 203 employees.
Miller said the company was expected to expand because of the deal, but any growth will occur outside Oxford Hills.
Employees were informed of the purchase when it was finalized last week, he said.
The deal was financed with a $6.5 million loan from Lone Star Value Investors, an investment fund established and managed by Eberwein.
Before starting Lone Star Value in October 2013, Eberwein was a private investor with Viking Global investors and Soros Fund Management, the investment group owned by billionaire George Soros.
In a feature article published late January by The Deal Pipeline, a transaction information service, Eberwein is described as a “a new breed of activist investor, one who offers a more constructive, gentlemanly approach.”
A message left for Eberwein at his firm’s Greenwich, Conn., offices was not returned Thursday afternoon.
Miller said he met Eberwein last week, but does not know much about the investor aside from the fact that he worked for Soros’ firm.
“Not too many people get to work for George Soros, so he must be good at what he does,” Miller said.
pmcguire@sunjournal.com
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- KBS Building Systems, a modular building company established in South Paris in 2002, was sold to a Minnesota manufacturing company in a $10.5 million deal.
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