Press
January 6, 2012
Seeing a Future in Flatware
Some local residents, when eating out, instinctively turn their utensils upside-down to look for a telltale sign: the word "Oneida," stamped into the back of the handle.
The "Oneida flip," as it's called, is a ritual carried over from an era when Oneida Ltd., the company headquartered here, dominated the global market in flatware, setting tables all over the world with its stainless steel forks, spoons and knives. In recent years, the ritual became a painful reminder of the company's troubles.
Once an economic engine of upstate New York and one of the region’s largest employers, Oneida no longer makes flatware in the area. Like so many industrial players across the country, the company has struggled to compete with a flood of low- cost foreign manufacturers. As sales evaporated, factories were shut down. Retail stores were closed and jobs were shipped overseas.
But a funny thing happened on the way to Oneida’s demise. Wall Street-an industry that has been accused of destroying jobs and stripping businesses for parts- decided the company had long-term potential.
In November, Monomoy Capital Partners, a private equity firm, bought Oneida from a group of hedge funds. The new owner wants to expand, rather than decimate its operations. It is a simple but lofty goal for a company that has been slowly recovering since its bankruptcy in 2006.
“This is a meaningful investment for us,” said Daniel Collin, the Monomoy partner who led the deal to acquire Oneida. “After years of being undercapitalized, Oneida finally has a partner willing to invest in its future.”
How a 132-year-old flatware company ended up in the hands of a Manhattan private equity firm illustrates the woes of American manufacturing-and possibly, a way to improve its fortunes.
Last year, buyout shops bought 361 industrial companies, with many deals under $150 million, like the Oneida deal, according to Preqin, a research firm.
Monomoy, which has just 20 employees and manages a relatively small $700 million in assets, has specialized in acquiring small- to medium-size businesses that might seem antiquated to other buyout firms. Among the companies in its portfolio are Steel Parts manufacturing, which produces clutch plates used in automatic transmission cars, and Awrey Bakeries, a 102-year-old company that makes frozen brownies, cakes and other desserts.
“A lot of times, these boring, stodgy businesses can generate consistent cash flow, and that’s important to a private equity buyer,” said Eric Hollowaty, an equity research analyst with Stephens Inc. “I don’t think many private equity firms are going to be motivated by saving an age-old brand if they don’t think they can make a handsome return.”
While Oneida’s flatware business may be traditional, its history is anything but. The company traces its roots to the Oneida Community, a utopian commune started in 1848 by an eclectic religious leader named John Humphrey Noyes. In a sprawling mansion on Kenwood Avenue, Mr. Noyes and his followers, known as Perfectionists, practiced a radical lifestyle that involved communal child-rearing, a free-love arrangement known as “complex marriage” and a rule, called “coitus reservatus’ that prohibited men from ejaculating during sex.
“We still do it the old-fashioned way,” said Paul E. Gebhardt, Oneida’s senior vice president of design, who is also the great-great-grandson of John Humphrey Noyes, the founder of the Oneida Community.
While the group disbanded in 1880, its entrepreneurial spirit lived on in Oneida Ltd., which grew from a manufacturing corporation formed by ex-community members into a global behemoth. Its former ticker symbol on the New York Stock Exchange, OCQ, stood for “Oneida Community Quality.”
A third of Oneida’s roughly 450 employees still work at the company’s headquarters, a four-story granite building that stands across the street from the original Oneida Community house and doubles as a kind of living museum. Oneida advertisements from Life magazine and the Saturday Evening Post in the 1960s, some featuring then-spokesman Bob Hope, dot the walls of the office. A row of unused Kodak Carousels sits on a shelf outside the company’s in-house darkroom, long ago abandoned for a digital photography studio. Down the hall, a small group of model-makers hammers out prototypes by hand.
“We still do it the old-fashioned way,” said Paul E. Gebhardt, Oneida’s senior vice president of design, who is also the great-great grandson of John Humphrey Noyes, the founder of the Oneida Community.
Oneida’s financial problems were decidedly modern, and echoes the issues faced by companies in cities like Detroit and Pittsburgh. Starting in the 1990s, the company began to feel the heat of foreign competitors, who could produce utensils for a fraction of the price of American manufacturers. The attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, further hurt business, after the metal forks and knives Oneida supplies to airlines were banned on flights.
IN THE NEWS
January 6, 2012
Seeing a Future in Flatware
Some local residents, when eating out, instinctively turn their utensils upside-down to look for a telltale sign: the word "Oneida," stamped into the back of the handle.
February 10, 2011
Faith in the system
Monomoy Capital Partners, which recently closed its second fund on more than $400m, has developed a unique system as part of its turnarounds of struggling companies that borrows heavily from Japanese business philosophies.
January 7, 2011
Monomoy Closes Second Fund At $400M Hard Cap
Monomoy Capital Partners has surpassed the $350 million target for its second fund, which closed at $400 million.
That puts Monomoy Capital Partners II LP at its hard cap for limited partner commitments. Including a separate
executive fund and financial commitments of the firm, the fund can to invest up to $420 million when including
partner and executive capital.
September 14, 2009
Everything Must Go
Despite the cheerless news, several investors anticipate even more bankruptcies and the shuttering of plants.
June 1, 2009
Icing On The Cake: Hilco, Monomoy Order Dessert
Monomoy Capital Partners Principal Dan Collin tried, but couldn’t exactly sample every product that his firm’s newest add-on company makes....
March 30, 2009
NY Shop Forges Auto Parts Niche Platform
Monomoy Capital Partners is fast at working carving out a niche for itself in teh beleagured auto parts industry. The New York-based fim has now coralled its fourth add-on for Compass Automotive Group Inc., a company it's using as a platform to roll-up businesses in teh auto-related aluminium casting industry…
March 18, 2009
Monomoy adds on to automotive platform
PRESS RELEASES
November 2, 2011
Monomoy Capital Partners Acquires Oneida Ltd.
April 21, 2011
Monomoy Capital Partners Acquires Steel Parts Manufacturing, Inc.
January 6, 2011
Monomoy Capital Partners Announces The Final Closing Of Its $400 Million Second Fund
July 9, 2010
Monomoy Capital Partners Acquires The Heat Transfer Products Group Of Carrier Corporation
October 28, 2009
Monomoy Capital Partners Acquires Chihuahua, Mexico Operations From Nypro, Inc.
May 29, 2009
Monomoy Capital Partners, L.P. and Hilco Equity Partners Acquire Atkins Elegant Desserts, Inc.
April 27, 2009
Monomoy Capital Partners, L.P. Acquires Global Thermoplastics, L.P.