Olathe-based Safari Belting Systems Inc. anticipates a bright future full of growth opportunities after selling for an undisclosed amount to a big global Italian player named Chiorino SpA.
Chris and Julie Smith founded Safari in 2005, risking everything they owned to build a better mousetrap. They created a modular plastic conveyor belt for food manufacturing that was fully interchangeable with existing systems, more sanitary, stronger and easier to repair.
“The competitors in the market are enormous global entities, and here we came into the market, like plankton compared to whales,” said Julie Smith, Safari’s vice president of sales operations and corporate accounts. “But we created a strong niche by developing some products particularly geared for food safety, and we began to gain some traction with some pretty large food processors. We managed to stay in business despite the whales swimming around us.”
Safari’s growth was greatly assisted by the federal Food Safety and Modernization Act of 2011. Instead of being reactive to food safety risk, the new law required food processors to be proactive to try to prevent problems. One such problem was a conveyor belt breaking and contaminating the food. Safari’s products offered a vast improvement on that front. Although Safari’s competitors were focused more on going after giant customers than on solving problems for food processors, the Olathe business was getting in the door with some large food manufacturers.
About a year ago, with the Covid-19 pandemic raging and large conveyor belt companies seeing opportunity in food production, Safari started getting unsolicited acquisition offers.
“We were minding our own business and going about our day-to-day activities when we had a really large company express interest,” Smith said. “Soon we had five competitors after us. Part of the reason for that is margins in plastic are high, and a lot of industrial applications were starting to move to a plastic modular belt because they’re easier to repair and less expensive. So our competitors saw their market share dwindling, and they needed a way to get into the plastic market. There are some major players in the market, but they’re probably too expensive to acquire. They could have tried to go organically, but then they have to compete against established competitors who are already accepted in the food industry.”
Safari hired Pat Trysla of Mission-based Frontier Investment Banking to sell the company. They settled on a sale to Chiorino, a worldwide leader in the production of conveyor and process belts, transmission belts and rubber aprons.
Founded in 1906, the private company is 80% owned by the Chiorino family and 20% owned by Tamburi investment Partners SpA. The company, based in Biella, Italy, owns 21 subsidiaries and has a distribution network in about 60 countries. However, it had no plastic modular products and no U.S. manufacturing facilities, making Safari Belting a perfect fit.
„This acquisition is an important step for Chiorino to offer a complete product mix to our customers, strengthen our market leadership in the food industry and support Chiorino’s growth strategy by leveraging the unique innovative products and superior service capabilities of both companies to deliver the best value solutions and experience to our customers,“ Gregorio and Matteo Chiorino, president and CEO of Chiorino, said in a release.
Smith said Chiorino intends to keep the manufacturing operations in Olathe. Because Chiorino has no other U.S. manufacturing operations, she expects the acquisition to greatly broaden opportunities for Safari’s employees. The company employs less than 100 people.
Safari declined to share its annual earnings, but it was acquired at a multiple of 20 times annual earnings.
Chris and Julie Smith will stay on full time for at least the next three years. They hope to develop their role into a part-time consultant or a board position.
Julie Smith said her future may involve focusing on another company she founded in Olathe called Halt Pathogen Control Solutions. The company applied for a patent on an antimicrobial powder that is a plastic additive and a hard surface protectant.
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Olathe-based Safari Belting Systems sells to global conveyor player Chiorino – Kansas City Business Journal – Kansas City Business Journal
