Coverage of Michigan manufacturer closure following private equity acquisition

Michigan news sources 94.7 WCSX and the Detroit Free Press recently covered the August closure of Highland Township-based Midwest Glass Fabricators following its acquisition by Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope, a manufacturer owned by private equity firm KPS Capital Partners. 

According to reporting, the closure was a shock for workers and the community. When the acquisition of Midwest Glass was first announced in February 2024, the companies’ joint release emphasized the opportunities for future growth presented by the deal. Just 18 months later, more than 100 Midwest Glass workers were laid off after Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope announced it would be shuttering the plant. 

PESP’s Justin Flores provided some private equity-specific context to the Detroit Free Press in an interview for its coverage of the Midwest Glass closure:  

Justin Flores, director of labor and jobs at the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, an activist group critical of the private-equity industry, said it’s unusual to see a private-equity-backed company shut down an acquisition, such as Midwest Glass, so soon after issuing upbeat forecasts for the business’s future.

“It would be odd to go in a year’s time from ‘this will be great for everybody’ to ‘we’re closing everything down,’ ” he said.

It also is odd to see such a company offer no reason for the shutdown, Flores said, not even just a perfunctory reason.

“Typically they find something to blame, whether it’s Amazon or tariffs or taxes or the general economy, there is usually some vague excuse that’s used,” Flores said.

Private equity-owned companies employ more than 13 million workers in the United States. For more information on private equity employers, see PESP’s Private Equity Employer Tracker.