Orem-based Mity merges with 2 Utah firms

An Orem-based institutional furniture manufacturer has announced the completion of its merger with two Utah private equity firms.

Sorenson Capital and Peterson Partners have finalized plans to purchase Mity Enterprises Inc. in a deal valued at $75 million. The buyers previously announced their intentions to take Mity private again and focus on its growth.

Business will continue largely as usual for Mity's 375 Utah employees and some 50 workers at a sister company in Canada, Chief Financial Officer Paul Killpack said Wednesday.

"For Mity employees, it doesn't mean a lot of change," he said. "We'll be continuing to run the business the way we have in the past ... just looking to continue to grow the business, see the levels of profit that we've had in the past and build for the future."

There will be some shake-up in the higher levels of the company, however. Mity founder Gregory Wilson no longer will be involved in the business, Killpack said, and Chief Executive Officer Brad Nielson also has resigned after 14 years with the company. Nielson will continue as a member of Mity's board of directors.

Under the terms of the agreement, Mity shareholders will receive $21.50 in cash for each of their shares. The company's board of directors unanimously approved the merger on May 2, and shareholders seconded the proposal on June 26.

Mity's common stock has now been delisted and will no longer trade publicly.

In a late Tuesday news release, Fraser Bullock, Sorenson Capital co-founder and a managing director, said the private equity fund was "excited to add Mity to our growing list of portfolio companies. Mity has a great reputation in its industry and a wonderful work force."

Founded in 1987, Mity makes institutional furniture for niche markets, including multipurpose room furniture and seating for health-care facilities. The company went public in 1994 and has since been ranked five times on Forbes magazine's "200 Best Small Companies in America" list.

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