Auveco, a Leader in the Automotive Fastener and Body Hardware Aftermarket, Expands Into Adjacent Mechanical Aftermarket With Acquisition of Marli Manufacturing

COLD SPRING, Ky., June 27, 2018 (Newswire.com) - Auveco (the “Company”), the largest purveyor of specialty fasteners and body hardware used in the automotive aftermarket, announces the acquisition of Marli Manufacturing, headquartered in Binghamton, New York. Marli is a provider of automotive aftermarket mechanical components, including engine head bolts, intake manifold bolts, oil drain plugs, oil drain gaskets and other specialty fasteners and fittings.

Auveco CEO Jeff Gilkinson said, "The addition of Marli Manufacturing is a tremendous fit for our organization and will strengthen our ability to serve customers throughout North America. We are excited to expand our product portfolio into the automotive mechanical aftermarket while broadening the range of solutions we can offer our network of distribution partners." 

Mark Epstein, CEO of Marli, said, "This is a unique opportunity to accelerate the growth of Marli's products and services by enhancing our offering to our channel partners. We are excited to join the Auveco team, who have the same high standards of customer service, order fulfillment and quality product offering we have delivered to our customers for decades.”

Key strategic benefits of the acquisition include:

• Augmented product offerings and deeper market footprint. Our distributors are of paramount importance to our success. We will continue to expand our new product introductions and overall product breadth to help these customers meet the product and service demands of their client base. This expanded product offering gives these customers, our distributors, unmatched access to a greater selection of products and services for their end-users.
   
• Enhanced service for customers. The Company will continue investment in technology and personnel, reinforcing the Company’s leading position in service to its most valued constituents – the distributors who support our end-users. The combination of the companies' resources allows for accelerated investment in new product development and support personnel, furthering the company's leading position in breadth of offering and superior delivery times to our customers. Additionally, we will support this expansion through improved tools like FasTrack Web cost recovery, an interactive online catalogue and various in-print resources - a few examples of our constantly evolving service offerings to help differentiate our distributors in the marketplace.
   
• Investment in employees. Our employees are the key to enabling our industry-leading product quality, breadth and customer service. We will continue to invest in the future through our valued employees with enhanced training and technology development. These investments will continue our focus toward growth in our core business lines, give our team career advancement opportunities and continue our position as a preferred employer in the markets we serve.
   
• Plans to pursue further expansion. The company plans to pursue organic and inorganic growth opportunities to enhance the value proposition to our customers through various product line expansions.  

The transaction was effective as of June 25, 2018.

About Auveco

Founded in 1916, Auveco has become one of the predominant providers of automotive fasteners to the body hardware aftermarket as well as general industrial fasteners used in maintenance, repair and operations applications within North America. The Company sells to thousands of wholesale distribution customers who subsequently service hundreds of thousands of collision centers, repair shops, dealerships and general manufacturers located throughout North America. For additional information, please visit www.auveco.com.

About Marli Manufacturing

Founded in 1980 to fill a market void for critical automotive components, Marli has grown to be an industry-leading source of engine head bolts, oil drain plugs and gaskets, and other specialty engine hardware serving distributors, engine remanufacturers and quick lube networks. Marli stocks and distributes over 1,000 aftermarket components. For additional information, please visit www.marlimfg.com.

Source: Auveco