By Sarah Mearhoff/VTDigger
The owners of Simon Pearce, Vermont’s iconic glass and pottery maker, have sold an unspecified stake in the half-a-century-old business to a San Francisco-based private equity firm.
Simon Pearce has been headquartered in Windsor since its namesake founded it in 1971. In a press release Tuesday, Dec. 3, the company said it had entered into a “strategic partnership” with SBJ Capital, the San Francisco firm, in order to expand its reach.
“In the grand scheme of things, what it means is, it’s assured continuity of the brand and the business in Vermont, and the ability to carry on Simon’s legacy well past the original 50 years that we’ve had so far,” Simon Pearce CEO Jay Benson said in an interview Wednesday.
A motivating factor in the deal, according to Benson, is Pearce’s own age — and his hope for the company to persevere. “Simon is in his 70s,” Benson said.
“There was a very conscious decision made over a decade ago with the family that it would not pass to the next generation of the family,” Benson said. “Simon has seen too many businesses and families destroyed by business transition, and really didn’t want that to happen to his business.”
As for who controls a majority stake in the company now, Benson declined to answer, saying, “We’re not disclosing the individual amounts of shareholders.” He also declined to specify a dollar amount of the sale.
“You can look at how SBJ typically invests, but all the previous owners are all still involved in the company,” he added.
According to SBJ Capital’s website, the private equity firm can “make minority or majority investments to finance growth, acquisitions, recapitalizations and buyouts.” It says it focuses “on investments in lower middle-market consumer, business services and healthcare services companies.”
Pearce himself declined an interview request through the company’s external spokesperson, Jessica Olshen. She also declined to provide additional information about the company’s ownership or the terms of the deal, calling it “a private business matter.”
Olshen said of the company, “They are excited about this partnership; it will be great for the region and keep Simon Pearce growing for many years.”
With the sale, Benson said the company has no intentions of relocating its Windsor headquarters, nor its manufacturing facilities in Quechee or Oakland, Maryland.
Asked if it would reduce staffing levels due to the sale, Benson said, “No, I mean, we’re hiring.”
