THE FIRE OF 2012 FAILED TO SLOW KENNEDY’S PATTERN OF GROWTH. THROUGH THE FIRST FEW MONTHS OF 2014, KENNEDY EXPANDED TO 80,000 SQUARE FEET OF OPERATING SPACE AND AS OF APRIL, ACQUIRED MANCHESTER SLING.


KWRS Today


The first few years at KWRS Photos courtesy of Kennedy Wire Rope & Sling


“Tis is one of the big things we’ve had in mind for the last couple of years, but there hasn’t been a good opportunity until Trey Meador over at Manchester Sling brought it up. He thought it’d make a great fit and he liked our business model and our personnel,” says Cloutet. “He was interested in selling a branch in Houston. Our Management team decided it was the next step for the company. We signed them on April 17 and it’s been a wild ride ever since. Te Houston market is one everybody wants to get into.” Te acquisition is a real game-changer for Kennedy. It puts


them front and center in two new markets while also allowing the company to expand in a number of important directions. “Tere were markets we were not able to be part of because of time and distance,” says Garland Kennedy Jr. “We needed to be able to supply those markets same day, everyday and now we can.” Te respect and admiration that Cloutet expressed for


Manchester was reciprocated by Trey Meador when he decided that Kennedy was the right company to buy him out. Meador spoke with Wire Rope Exchange via a phone call from his office at Premier Wire Rope in Houston – a company that he still owns.


“We’ve known Kennedy Wire Rope and the family and the upper management for several years,” says Meador. “When I was starting Premier Wire Rope they became a strong client. We’ve helped each other out and developed a good relationship. I simply threw out the opportunity to merge Manchester into Kennedy. It was a strategic move for both of us. Tere have been a lot of mergers and acquisitions in the industry and it seemed like this would be the plan for us. I felt like I had some flexibility and it all comes down to the right buyer, the right person on the other end of the deal.” Echoing the same sentiments, Garland Kennedy Jr. likens it


to a family. “It just made a perfect fit. It was like having relatives come and work for us,” he says. Kennedy has met with its share of successes and setbacks.


Despite a fire that left their corporate warehouse in ashes, the company acted like it barely hit a speed bump, much less a roadblock – turning in a record year in sales. Add their recent M&A with Manchester Sling, and Kennedy’s penchant for growth is proof that ‘success breeds success.’ y


WIRE ROPE EXCHANGE MAY-JUNE 2014 23


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