Steelite International, an Arbor Investments-backed maker of dinnerware, glassware, flatware and lighting for hospitality and other industries, expects to close two or three acquisitions in 2024, said President and CEO John Miles.

Revenue is expected to approach USD 450m in 2024, Miles said, with rising EBITDA margins that he declined to specify. “We believe EBITDA of USD 150m is achievable,” he added, without providing a target date for the milestone.

The Youngstown, Ohio-based business, which has been an Arbor platform since December 2019, seeks targets with revenue of roughly USD 5m to USD 75m in the US, UK, Ireland, continental Europe, Asia, and Australia, the executive said. “We’re really beating the bushes in all of these markets,” Miles said, noting that Steelite has made 10 acquisitions since 2016, six of them since the Arbor investment.

In 2023, it acquired two US-based businesses for undisclosed terms: Delfin, a Huntington Beach, California-based provider of melamine display items for retail and foodservice; and Alvin, Texas-based Diversified Ceramics, a manufacturer of vitrified dinnerware for the foodservice industry. For this report, Miles said both companies had less than USD 10m in revenue.

Ideal targets are within Steelite’s core product offerings of ceramics, cutlery, buffet equipment, glass and melamine for display and plating, and table lighting, he noted. Targets are sourced by Steelite management, Arbor, and multiple investment banks that are in frequent contact with Arbor. Steelite will participate in auction processes or make direct approaches. Arbor contributes roughly 50% toward the cost of acquisitions with additional financing provided by BMO, Steelite’s preferred senior lender, he said.

Steelite is more focused on the type of business and ease of integration than the geographic location, he noted.

Steelite has 1,400 global employees, with the majority in the UK, where the company was founded, and 320 in the US, mostly in New Castle, Pennsylvania, where it is constructing a new 350,000-square-foot distribution facility that will cost in excess of USD 30m.

Miles, who joined Steelite in 1996, and PNC Riverarch Capital acquired the business from its then-UK-based management in 2016, with Arbor buying out PNC Riverarch three years later.

Asked about an exit strategy, Miles said Arbor is in no hurry to exit because it sees continued growth and opportunity in the sector. “I think Arbor likes the business and they continue to see high upside.” When an exit occurs, Miles said the most likely outcome would be a sale to a larger private equity firm or a public listing. Miles said a sale to a strategic is less likely but also possible. While Steelite is currently large enough to go public, he said it would be more optimal at the USD 150m EBITDA level or higher.

As previously reported, Steelite peers include Toledo, Ohio-based Libby; Ashburn, Virginia-based Fortessa Tableware Solutions, which in 2022 merged with Germany-based Zwiesel Kristallglas AG; and France-based Arc International.

Steelite works with the Gordon & Rees law firm for general legal services and Kirkland & Ellis for transactions. Deloitte is its accountant.