Rochester Metal Products, an Indiana ferrous foundry, will transfer the shares held by the current family ownership group to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). The expectation is that the sale will maintain local ownership of the 75-year-old gray and ductile iron castings producer, and preserve its strengths and assets for customers and the community.
The news was announced in a letter from the foundry’s director of sales & marketing Richard Bean to Rochester Metal customers.
An ESOP is a form of corporate ownership that assigns shares to workers at no cost. Shares are assigned to the workers and may be held in a trust until the employee leaves the company or retires. Rochester Metal did not indicate the percentage of ownership that may be represented by the ESOP. Also unreported was the schedule for the transfer.
Rochester Metal Products president and CEO Robert E. Kersey and the rest of its current management team will remain in place. This will help to ensure the stability of the organization and a smooth transition, according to a statement.
Bean noted the company’s confidence that the “transfer of ownership ensures a viable succession plan for the company and its employees to continue serving its customers, community and industry.”
Rochester Metal Products, in Rochester, IN, produces gray iron castings for water pumps, compressor housings, manifolds, gas valves, pulleys, bearing housings, and gear and pump housings. It also manufactures ductile iron castings for brackets, clamps, fittings, pulleys, and bearing housings.