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MINPACK, Inc.
A valued member of a small community.
Certified Development Company:
Minnesota Business Finance Corporation
Location:
Pine City, Minn.
Client:
Bob Thompson
Case Study:
$341,000 SBA 504 real estate loan, $289,000 equipment loan for a management buyout of the company
Third-Party Lenders:
Horizon Bank, Pine City
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MINPACK is one of America’s largest high-tech manufacturers of microfilm and is a key supplier for household names like 3M, NASA and Boeing. They also specialize in contract manufacturing of consumer products.
The facility in Pine City, Minn., was originally a manufacturing plant for 3M and has been running continuously since 1968. No small feat for this valued member of a small community. Over the years, it’s been the source of microfilm aperture cards, 3M Post-It™ Notes and Flags, and servicing for large-format color printers.
In 2004, then owner DecisionOne Corporation put the Pine City location up for sale. Shutting down the plant would have resulted in the loss of over 100 jobs and would have been a tough blow to a community of only 3,000. In stepped Bob Thompson, who served as the plant manager since 1998. He had been preparing for this moment for years and had the right of first refusal should they ever sell.
When Bob was trying to put together the deal he had the perception that getting government financing was a slow, burdensome process. But when a friend put him in touch with MBFC, he was pleasantly surprised. As Thompson explains, “I had heard that SBA loans were slow. But with MBFC, it went through really quick. They came in on a Friday and helped me fill out the forms and file the papers. By the next Friday, we had the preliminary approval.”
The deal closed about two and a half weeks from that first meeting. In the end, MBFC provided about 40 percent of the financing with SBA 504 loans. The Initiative Foundation also played a key role by providing gap financing to help cover the existing inventory.
Thompson couldn’t have been happier with MBFC. “It all happened because they wanted it to happen,” Thompson says. “It’s like it was meant to be.”
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