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Chehalem Business Connection
Page 11
September 2013
440294.090113
Northwoods Consulting
research, psychoeducation and training
901 N. Brutscher Street, Suite D, PMB 223 Newberg, OR 97132-6095
1-877-576-4970
Mental illness
occurs when the hardware in our head is not operating cor-
rectly regardless of its programming.
Psychological dysfunction
occurs
when the hardware in our head is operating correctly but its programming
is flawed, resulting in pain, suffering and self-destructive choices. For example,
most addiction is the result of dysfunction, not mental hardware failure.
Visit
for more info.
Mental health can be improved with combinations of therapy, medication, ed-
ucation and surgery. My specialty has been research and education in the
field of psychological dysfunction since 1960, and I’ve been practicing in New-
berg since 2001 where my clients are both local and world-wide. I teach
adults only, because they alone can provide healthy models for children to
emulate. Dysfunction can make it equally difficult to manage a life, a relation-
ship, a job, a family, a marriage, an international mega-corporation or a small
business and it makes it virtually impossible to raise a child who won’t wind
up with psychological wounds, scars and baggage. The children of dysfunc-
tional parents invariably make a lot of self-destructive choices as they try –
and fail – to mature.
Geoffrey R. Hamilton
A
San Francisco, Calif.-based
private equity firm has pur-
chased the controlling share
in Climax Portable Machining & Weld-
ing Systems, an industrial manufacturer
that employs roughly 200 people — the
vast majority at its Newberg headquar-
ters.
According to Andrew Becker, Cli-
max’s vice president of marketing and
strategic planning, the company has
been owned by its management and
outside investment firms for a number
of years. Since 2005, the partnering
firm has been Horizon Partners Ltd., a
holding company based in Milwaukee,
Wis.
But Climax, which has seen double-
digit sales increases over the past eight
years, was much smaller in 2005 than it
is now, and Becker said both his com-
pany and Horizon Partners agreed to go
their separate ways.
“They recognized it, too,” he said.
“It just became evident that Horizon
was not really big enough to continue
to help us meet the growth projections
that we had.”
He said the push to find the buyer
that ultimately acquired Horizon’s share
of the company, Industrial Growth Part-
ners, took about eight months. Out of
the seven or eight companies that were
considered finalists in the bidding
process, Becker said IGP had been con-
sidered Climax management’s “first
choice.”
“We’re very pleased,” he said. “We
like their portfolio. They really focus on
what we call middle-market manufac-
turers, which is what we are.”
The deal became official June 25.
Now, as part of the fold at IGP, Becker
said the company has the opportunity to
gain insight and experience from other
manufacturers in the firm’s portfolio —
many of whom are larger than Climax.
Becker said he does not expect the
deal — the terms of which were not
disclosed — to have a significant im-
pact on workers or outside the compa-
ny. He said Climax will still be based in
Newberg and remains “very commit-
ted” to the area.
“I think most of the changes will be
pretty invisible to our employees and
the community,” he said. “Looking for-
ward, we see potential acquisitions
we’d like to make, and now we’ll have
the resources to make that happen. The
big changes will probably be even
faster growth than what we’ve been
seeing.”
Some of his sentiments were echoed
by Climax President and CEO Geoff
Gilmore, who, in a press release, called
IGP an “ideal equity partner” for his
company.
“The Climax management team is
excited about the opportunity to draw
upon IGP’s deep industry experience to
help us expand within our existing mar-
kets, further penetrate international ge-
ographies and pursue add-on acquisi-
tions,” he said.
IGP has reportedly raised $1.4 bil-
lion of equity capital since its inception
in 1997. The firm invests exclusively in
middle-market companies in the manu-
facturing sector in partnership with
management, according to the release.
Climax was founded in 1965 by
Newberg resident Paul Strait, the inven-
tor of the portable key mill. The compa-
ny now has production facilities and
sales offices in the United States, Ger-
many, Poland and the United Kingdom,
plus 16 rental depots and 34 distributors
worldwide. Climax holds 32 patents
and has four more pending.
For more information, visit www.
climaxportable.com.
Climax will grow
through acquisition
Newberg portable machine tool manufacturer acquired by
San Francisco-based private equity firm
R
ain Dance Marketplace is a
sophisticated farm store lo-
cated in the heart of wine
country. It offers a wide array of
unique items, including fine furniture,
llama fiber products, Pendleton blan-
kets, glassware, children’s toys and
games, cards, crafts and gift paper,
hand crafted and “fun” jewelry and
food from nearby producers.
It also represents more than 40
local juried artists. Visitors are invit-
ed to bring a lunch to enjoy on the
patio while watching the friendly
llamas. Rain Dance Marketplace is
located at 26355 N.E. Bell Road in
Newberg (near the intersection with
Highway 219), just two miles from
The Allison Inn and Spa. It is open
from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday
through Sunday. The business can
be reached at 503-538-0197, at
raindancemarketplace.com or on
facebook.com/raindanceranch.
Rain Dance Marketplace features
local art, food and gifts
Rain Dance Marketplace is located at the intersection of
Highway 219 and Bell Road in Newberg.
