SIGMA acquires four new companies with industrial group merger

June 10, 2019
The SIGMA Fire Protection and UIG joint venture, called SIGMA Piping Products, will serve the national pipe, valve & fittings distributors, and OEM markets.

DENVER, CO, JUNE 10, 2019 -- SIGMA Corporation is proud to announce a merger of its Fire Protection business unit with four business units of Unique Industrial Group ("UIG"). The SIGMA Fire Protection and UIG joint venture, called SIGMA Piping Products ("SPP"), will serve the national pipe, valve & fittings distributors, and OEM markets.

SPP will operate with four business units, to grow on the strength of proven brands created, developed, and nurtured by Unique Industrial Group: Elite Components (Mechanical & Electrical Fastening, Fire Protection & Plumbing); Chem Oil (Engineered products for the Energy and Industrial Field); UniqueFlo (OEM, Industrial, and Oil & Gas Equipment); SUN Drainage Products (Floor, Roof and Channel Drain).

This new venture provides SIGMA with an expanded product range enabling growth in current markets as well as an opportunity to reach into new, adjacent markets. SIGMA's Chairman and CEO, Victor Pais, explains the move: "This acquisition, which we call the 'SUM' (SIGMA-Unique Merger), delivers a synergy that will benefit all of our customers. It makes us the only supplier in North America serving distributors in such a broad range of industries: waterworks, fire protection, plumbing, drainage, oil and gas industrial, and OEM. Unique is a value-added, sophisticated operation, and makes a strong complement to SIGMA's existing business groups. The SUM will springboard SIGMA into diversified markets, all of which are united in that they relate to moving liquids and controlling flow."

With over 35 years of customer satisfaction driven by close personal relationships at national, regional and local levels serving national, group, and independent distributors in the Water and Sewer industry, SPP is poised for growth. During the last 20 years, Unique Industrial has excelled in developing a broad product range from a proven and versatile global sourcing footprint. UIG has successfully served diverse industries through their entrepreneurial spirit and passion for quality and has delivered its products to customers throughout the Southwest, Southeast, and Western Pacific markets. SIGMA plans to leverage SPP's expanded product range throughout its national marketing, sales and distribution footprint, led by Larry Rybacki, SIGMA's President. A major expansion is planned for Canada, where SIGMA enjoys a sound reputation for service in the waterworks distribution industry.

SIGMA strategically sought out UIG as a partner in this venture because of its company culture as well as its complementary market sectors. Both companies share a people-centric business ethos, a loyal base of customers, suppliers, and employee teams, a commitment to innovation, and an unwavering devotion to quality and service. And both companies serve diverse, yet adjacent industries that relate to moving liquids and controlling flow.

Following a smooth transition, day-to-day operations of these newly combined business units will remain headquartered in Texas, under the umbrella of SPP. All the operating divisions will continue to function independently with oversight from the Board of Managers drawn from both SIGMA and UIG. Jay Malani, the entrepreneurial founder of the UIG, will manage SPP as CEO. Nimish Sheth, UIG's longtime Global Supply Director and CEO of UniqueFlo, will serve as the COO. Don Muller, SIGMA's Controller, who led the due diligence for SIGMA and the groundwork for SPP will be SPP's CFO. The management team will be assisted and guided by Pradeep Gupta, co-founder of UIG, as an advisor; Pankaj Malani, CEO of Unique Industrial, as Director; Mitchell Rona, SIGMA's Executive Vice President, as Director; and Victor Pais, CEO of SIGMA, as Chairman.

With this strategic merger, SPP will become the premier supplier of piping products in North America serving Distributors in a broad range of industries - from Waterworks to Fire Protection to Plumbing to Drainage to Oil & Gas to Industrial and OEM.

Victor Pais and Siddharth Bhattacharji, who founded SIGMA in 1985, returned to acquire SIGMA in 2017 from the investors they had sold it to in 2007, with financial support from Fairfax Financial Holdings ("FFH") of Canada, a large and successful global investor in insurance companies and other industries. FFH and other shareholders of SIGMA financially supported the SIGMA Unique merger.

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