The Farrel Corporation is an American manufacturing company based in

Ansonia, Connecticut Ansonia is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. Located on the Naugatuck River, it is immediately north of Derby, and about northwest of New Haven. The population was 18,918 at the time of the 2020 census. The ZIP code for ...

. Today, they manufacture process equipment for the plastics industry, and employ roughly 100 people.

History

Farrel was founded in 1848 as a

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

by Almon Farrel. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, they produced

bayonets A bayonet (from French ) is a knife, dagger, sword, or spike-shaped weapon designed to fit on the end of the muzzle of a rifle, musket or similar firearm, allowing it to be used as a spear-like weapon.Brayley, Martin, ''Bayonets: An Illustra ...

and

cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...

barrels. In 1926, Farrel Foundry merged with Birmingham Iron Foundry of

Derby, Connecticut Derby is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, approximately 8 miles west-northwest of New Haven. It is located in southwest Connecticut at the confluence of the Housatonic and Naugatuck Rivers. It borders the cities of Anson ...

. During the 1920s, Farrel-Birmingham began creating gears for use in

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

propulsion systems in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

. In 1941, the Navy contracted with Farrel-Birmingham and

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

to begin manufacturing a rapid reversal gear system that would allow vessels to reverse engines without first slowing down. In 1942, Farrel-Birmingham received the E award from the Navy for their efforts. In 1963, Farrel Birmingham adopted the current name of Farrel Corporation and began manufacturing process equipment for plastic plants. During the 1970s and 1980s, Farrel went through several owners. In 1986, a group of private equity investors including Rolf Liebergesell, Charles S. Jones and Alberto Shaio, acquired the company from Emhart Corporation (which later merged with

Black & Decker Black+Decker Inc. is an American manufacturer of power tools, accessories, hardware, home improvement products, home appliances and fastening systems headquartered in Towson, Maryland, north of Baltimore, Maryland, USA, where the company was o ...

) for $1.0 million plus assumption of debt. At the CEO’s direction, Charles S. Jones’s firm divested the Roll Grinder products division, the Railroad products division, the steel extrusion division, and a 25% equity stake in the Italian Pomini enterprise. The Railroad products division was acquired by Simmons Machine Tool Corporation (now NSH USA Corporation) in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...

. Then, Farrel, under Liebergesell’s direction, focused exclusively on its core operations of plastic and rubber equipment. By 1991, under the leadership of Al Shaio, head of sales, revenue doubled to $105 million, with $5.4 million in operating income. In 1992, Charles S. Jones led Farrel’s

IPO An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

, underwritten by

Paine Webber PaineWebber & Co. was an American investment bank and stock brokerage firm that was acquired by the Swiss bank UBS in 2000. The company was founded in 1880 in Boston, Massachusetts, by William Alfred Paine and Wallace G. Webber. Operating with ...

and

First Albany First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

for a

pre-money valuation A pre-money valuation is a term widely used in the private equity and venture capital industries. It refers to the valuation of a company or asset prior to an investment or financing. If an investment adds cash to a company, the company will hav ...

of $52.1 million, giving the original investors a 52.1x return in less than six years, with an IRR of 92.1%. Following the acquisition, Charles S. Jones led the acquisition of Farrel’s major competitors, including Rockstedt OHG in Germany, Francis Shaw Rubber Machinery Ltd. and PRC Fabrications Ltd in the United Kingdom and Skinner Engine in

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 a ...

. In 2009, Farrel was acquired by the HF Machinery Group division of L. Possehl & Co., of

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...

, Germany. In 2016, Farrel built a new facility in Ansonia.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Manufacturing companies based in Connecticut Companies based in New Haven County, Connecticut American companies established in 1848 Manufacturing companies established in 1848 1848 establishments in Connecticut