Accuride Corporation (Evansville, Indiana), a supplier of components to the North American and European commercial vehicle industries, acquired KIC LLC (Vancouver, Washington) and certain of its affiliated entities. KIC is a supplier of wheel end components to the North American commercial vehicle industry, and designs and tests its own products and partners with contract manufacturers located throughout the world.

The addition of KIC marks Accuride’s first acquisition under the ownership of Crestview Partners (New York), a private equity firm. Crestview acquired Accuride in November 2016 as a growth platform in the global commercial vehicle components industry. “Combining the tremendous strengths of KIC and Accuride will enable us to increase competitiveness and expand into new market segments,” Accuride president and CEO Rick Dauch said. “Our similar product and technology offerings mesh well; while the combination of our highly complementary business models gives us greater capacity and ability to flex up and down in response to industry cycles and customer demand.

“We are excited to work with KIC co-founder Greg Hatton and his leadership team to fully leverage the strengths of both KIC and our Gunite business. Together, we will incorporate KIC’s customer service discipline, technology resources and efficient manufacturing and distribution network into our product and service offering to our OEM and Aftermarket customers here in North America, as well as to select global markets.”

Hatton was also enthusiastic about the transaction, which closed in May.

“We at KIC are proud to join Rick and his team at Accuride and are excited about our ability to best serve the trucking industry with our leading technology, engineering and manufacturing footprint,“ said Hatton, who will join the Accuride Board of Directors. “The combination of Gunite and KIC will enhance the strengths and cost efficiencies of both companies, allowing us to provide our customers with superior wheel end products and service.”

With the closing of the transaction, Dauch continues to lead the company.  KIC president John Schneider, KIC COO Omar Fakhoury and Gunite president Gregory Risch will be responsible for executing the company’s plan to integrate KIC.

-The 18th Guangzhou Die-casting, Foundry & Industry Furnace Exhibition