About the Company

Ville Swiss Automatics was founded in 1985 by John Petro with a scrap spinner, six Tornos and a few Wickman Swiss Screw machines purchased from a company modernizing their equipment. John rebuilt the machines and started running overflow work for other manufacturers. Gradually, he expanded into running overflow work for other companies in the Naugatuck Valley of western Connecticut. By 1998, John had replaced all original equipment and was running machines, two shifts per day, with the help of ten employees.

Ville Swiss was an early adopter of CNC Controls and by 2005 phased out all CAM-operated equipment, except for some Escomatic coil-fed machinery. This equipment allowed the company to run without the need for an employee to be present to feed parts. CNC became Ville Swiss’s largest department, with a total of 17 CNC machines.

Few job shops manufacture the products that Ville Swiss specializes in, and even fewer can do it consistently and with the low failure rates the company has achieved.

How MidStreet Helped

Using a negotiated sale process, MidStreet attracted over 127 potential buyers to the process. Buyers were then interviewed, and required to complete a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) and provide proof of financial support. In the end, MidStreet prequalified 28 individual and strategic buyers who were then given access to the marketing materials.

MidStreet created a marketing video and confidential information memorandum to help attract interest in the business. After interviewing several candidates and reviewing offers, John Petro selected a an individual buyer with experience in the machine shop industry to purchase his business.