May River Capital acquires BJM Pumps

Private equity firm May River Capital has completed its acquisition of US submersible pump provider BJM Pumps LLC.

Old Saybrook, Connecticut-headquartered BJM Pumps supplies submersible pumps for demanding applications in industrial and municipal/wastewater environments, and for dewatering in mining, construction, fire-damaged sites and power generation pumping.

May River is forming a new Industrial Pump Platform, with BJM Pumps as the first acquisition. Brad Sterner, a member of May River’s Executive Resource Group, will serve as executive chairman of the new Pump Platform as well as interim CEO of BJM Pumps. This is the second May River investment platform involving Sterner, who has previously held leadership roles with Emerson, Danaher, Idex, Rexnord and Colfax.

“We see tremendous opportunities to expand BJM’s position in the pump market by building on its extensive distributor network, as well as investing in accelerated new product development,” said Dan Barlow, May River partner in charge of the Industrial Pump Platform. “The investments we’ll bring to the company will enable BJM Pumps to accelerate its growth and position itself to become the premier provider in its chosen categories.”

“BJM’s strong brand name, selling channels and pumping technologies portfolio are ideal attributes for the Platform’s initial acquisition,” said Sterner. “We have developed a commercial and operational playbook for the Industrial Pump Platform that will deliver above market organic growth and margin expansion that will require ongoing investment in people, process and production capacity to enable and sustain that growth rate.”

“Our management team is truly excited about this acquisition and the new opportunities it will bring to grow our business,” said BJM Pumps president Ron Woodward. “Our new owner’s focus and expertise certainly supports our strategy for continued growth in the industrial pump market.”

May River Capital is a Chicago-based small market private equity firm focused on industrial growth companies.

BJM Pumps KZN37 - hard metal submersible slurry pump.
BJM Pumps KZN37 - hard metal submersible slurry pump.