Private Equity Firm’s Oldcastle Shuts Down Successful Michigan Glass Plant, Laying off 124 Workers

A Michigan glass plant will close its doors on August 11, putting 124 workers out of jobs. The shutdown comes just 18 months after Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope bought the once-thriving Midwest Glass Fabricators site.

"All indications when we sold it were that this was a long-term thing for them," said Pat Iaquinto, one of Midwest Glass' cofounders.

Workers at the site make glass items like mirrors, insulated windows, bulletproof barriers and shower units. KPS Capital Partners spent $3.45 billion to buy Oldcastle in 2022, before the closure decision.

Highland Township Supervisor Rick Hamill sees red flags. "My contention is that competitor purchased them solely to get that equipment at a discount, with no intention of ever operating that business," said Hamill.

The site started small in 1989 with just three brothers working from their garage. Michael, James and Pat Iaquinto built it up to 190 workers by 2024. In 2018, they added state-of-the-art Italian machines to boost output.

Staff told buyers their orders would shift to other sites in Indianapolis, Chicago and Perrysburg, Ohio. The machines will move there too.

The building stays with the Iaquinto family. They must now sort out lease terms with Oldcastle. The township might lose money too, even though they gave tax breaks for the 2018 upgrades.

When asked why, Oldcastle stayed quiet. They're also shutting sites in Hauppauge, New York, and Louisville, Kentucky soon.

The quick switch from good news to closure caught Justin Flores' eye at the Private Equity Stakeholder Project. "It would be odd to go in a year's time from 'this will be great for everybody' to 'we're closing everything down,'" Flores said.

Pat Iaquinto thinks market forces played a part. "The volumes in our industry (have) not been there probably for about two years, and I think it's more bad timing than anything else," he said.