UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

Form 10-K

 

(Mark One)

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2016

OR

For the transition period from               to              

Commission file number: 001-33209

 

ALTRA INDUSTRIAL MOTION CORP.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

 

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code:

(781) 917-0600

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

NONE

 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.    Yes  ☒    No  ☐   

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Act.    Yes  ☐    No  ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of the registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K.    ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).    Yes  ☐    No  ☒

The aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant based on the closing price (as reported by the NASDAQ Global Market) of such common stock on the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter (June 30, 2016) was approximately $668.4 million.

As of February 24, 2017, there were 29,174,922 shares of Common Stock, $0.001 par value per share, outstanding.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE:

Portions of the following document are incorporated herein by reference into the Part of the Form 10-K indicated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

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Our Company

Altra Industrial Motion Corp. (“Altra” or the “Company”) (formerly Altra Holdings, Inc.) is a leading global designer, producer and marketer of a wide range of mechanical power transmission, or MPT, components.  Our products are used to control and transmit power and torque in virtually any industrial application involving movement.  With our global footprint, we sell our products in over 70 countries and serve customers in a diverse group of industries, including energy, general industrial, material handling, metals, mining, special machinery, transportation, and turf and garden. Our product portfolio includes clutches and brakes, couplings and gearing and other power transmission components. Our products are used in a wide variety of high-volume manufacturing processes, where the reliability and accuracy of our products are critical in both avoiding costly down time and enhancing the overall efficiency of manufacturing operations. Our products are also used in non-manufacturing applications where product quality and reliability are especially critical, such as clutches and brakes for elevators and residential and commercial lawnmowers. Altra was incorporated in 2004 in the State of Delaware and became a publicly traded company in 2006.  Altra is headquartered in Braintree, Massachusetts.

We market our products under well recognized and established brands, many of which have been in existence for over 50 years. We believe many of our brands, when taken together with our brands in the same product category, have achieved the number one or number two position in terms of consolidated market share and brand awareness in their respective product categories. Our products are either incorporated into products sold by original equipment manufacturers, (“OEMs”), sold to end users directly, or sold through industrial distributors.

 

In this Annual Report on Form 10-K, the terms “Altra”, “Altra Industrial Motion,” “the Company,” “we,” “us” and “our” refer to Altra Industrial Motion Corp. and its subsidiaries, except where the context otherwise requires or indicates.

We file reports and other documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You may read and copy documents we file at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, D.C. 20549. You should call 1-800-SEC-0330 for more information on the public reference room. Our SEC Filings are also available to you on the SEC’s internet site at http://www.sec.gov.

Our internet address is www.altramotion.com. By following the link “Investor Relations” and then “SEC filings” on our internet website, we make available, free of charge, our Annual Report on Form 10-K, our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, our Current Reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) as soon as reasonably practicable after such forms are filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. We are not including information contained on or available through our website as a part of, or incorporating such information by reference into, this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

History and Acquisitions

Formation of Altra

Although Altra was incorporated in Delaware in 2004, much of our current business has its roots with the prior acquisition by Colfax Corporation, or Colfax, of the MPT (mechanical power transmission) group of Zurn Technologies, Inc. in December 1996. Colfax subsequently acquired Industrial Clutch Corp. in May 1997, Nuttall Gear Corp. in July 1997 and the Boston Gear and Delroyd Worm Gear brands in August 1997 as part of Colfax’s acquisition of Imo Industries, Inc. In February 2000, Colfax acquired Warner Electric, Inc., which sold products under the Warner Electric, Formsprag Clutch, Stieber, and Wichita Clutch brands. Colfax formed Power Transmission Holding, LLC or “PTH” in June 2004 to serve as a holding company for all of these power transmission businesses. Boston Gear was established in 1877, Warner Electric, Inc. in 1927, and Wichita Clutch in 1949.

On November 30, 2004, we acquired our original core business through the acquisition of PTH from Colfax. We refer to this transaction as the PTH Acquisition.

On October 22, 2004, The Kilian Company, or Kilian, a company formed at the direction of Genstar Capital, then the largest stockholder of Altra, acquired Kilian Manufacturing Corporation from Timken U.S. Corporation. At the completion of the PTH Acquisition, (i) all of the outstanding shares of Kilian capital stock were exchanged for shares of our capital stock and (ii) Kilian and its subsidiaries were transferred to our former wholly owned subsidiary Altra Power Transmission, Inc.

Recent Acquisitions and Transactions

On May 29, 2011, we acquired substantially all of the assets and liabilities of Danfoss Bauer GmbH relating to its gear motor business, or Bauer. We refer to this transaction as the Bauer Acquisition. Bauer is a European manufacturer of high-quality gear motors, offering engineered solutions to a variety of industries, including material handling, metals, food processing, and energy.

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On July 11, 2012, we acquired 85% of privately held Lamiflex do Brasil Equipamentos Industriais Ltda., now known as Altra Industrial Motion do Brasil S.A., or Lamiflex. Lamiflex is a premier Brazilian manufacturer of high-speed disc couplings, providing engineered solutions to a variety of industries, including oil and gas, power generation, metals and mining. On June 19, 2015, we acquired the remaining 15% of Lamiflex.

On November 22, 2013, we changed our legal corporate name from Altra Holdings, Inc. to Altra Industrial Motion Corp.

On December 17, 2013, we acquired all of the issued and outstanding shares of Svendborg Brakes A/S and S.B. Patent Holding ApS (together “Svendborg”). Svendborg is a leading global manufacturer of premium quality caliper brakes.

On July 1, 2014, we acquired all of the issued and outstanding shares of Guardian Ind., Inc., now known as Guardian Couplings LLC or Guardian Couplings. Guardian Couplings is a manufacturer and supplier of flywheel, motion control and general industrial couplings.

On December 31, 2014, Altra Power Transmission, Inc., our former wholly owned subsidiary, was merged into Altra Industrial Motion Corp.

On December 30, 2016, we acquired the shares and certain assets and liabilities of the Stromag business from GKN plc. Stromag is a leading global manufacturer of highly engineered clutches and brakes, couplings, and limit switches for use in a variety of end markets including renewable energy, crane & hoist, and marine. We refer to this transaction as the Stromag Acquisition.

Our Industry

Based on industry data supplied by the Power Transmission Distributors Association in collaboration with Industrial Market Information, we estimate that global industrial power transmission products generated sales of approximately $151 billion in 2016. These products are used to generate, transmit, control and transform mechanical energy. The industrial power transmission industry can be divided into three areas: MPT products; motors and generators; and adjustable speed drives. We compete primarily in the MPT area which, based on industry data, we estimate was a $90 billion global market in 2016.

The global MPT market is highly fragmented, with over 1,000 small manufacturers. While smaller companies tend to focus on regional niche markets with narrow product lines, larger companies that generate annual sales of over $100 million generally offer a much broader range of products and have global capabilities. Buyers of MPT products are broadly diversified across many sectors of the economy and typically place a premium on factors such as quality, reliability, availability, and design and application engineering support. We believe the most successful industry participants are those that leverage their distribution network, their products’ reputations for quality and reliability and their service and technical support capabilities to maintain attractive margins on products and gain market share.

Company Goals and Operational Excellence

Operational Excellence is our comprehensive business management system designed to achieve world class performance. It reflects our quest to improve the flow of value to our customers with the goal of securing long-term growth and prosperity for our company, our employees and our partners. Operational Excellence applies to every function and every aspect of how we do business.

We are committed to driving shareholder return by leveraging Operational Excellence to achieve superior organic growth and operating margins, creating a market-focused culture that drives growth through innovation and maintaining a disciplined approach to acquisitions.

Our Business Strategy

With a strong long-term focus on Operational Excellence, organic growth and strategic acquisitions, we strive to create superior value for our customers, shareholders and associates.  We seek to achieve this vision through the following strategies:

Capitalize on Operational Excellence to Drive Margin Expansion and Organic Growth.    We believe we can continue to improve profitability through cost control, overhead rationalization, global process optimization, continued implementation of lean manufacturing techniques and strategic pricing initiatives. Our operating plan, based on manufacturing centers of excellence, provides additional opportunities to consolidate purchasing processes and reduce costs by sharing best practices across geographies and business lines.

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Collaborate with Customers to Create New Opportunities.    We focus on aggressively developing new products across our business in response to customer needs in various markets. Our extensive application-engineering know-how drives both new and repeat sales and we have an established history of innovation with over 200 granted patents and pending patent applications worldwide. In total, new products developed by us during the past three years generated approximately $51.9 million in revenues during 2016.

Capturing the Benefits of Common Ownership. We foster the sharing of best practices throughout the organization.  We challenge our businesses to work together to identify cross-selling opportunities to increase customer and distributor penetration as well as to expand into new markets and geographic regions.  The recent realignment of our three divisions further developed these initiatives. Leveraging our global buying power, our businesses work together to identify cost saving opportunities and to improve supply chain management. Utilizing our common ERP system, we have implemented a shared services structure that supports all of our business units in the United States.  This allows our businesses to receive the benefits of expanded customer service, cohesive marketing services and consolidated accounting functions, which will increase efficiency and help to reduce cost.

Selectively Pursue Strategic Acquisitions that Complement Our Strong Platform.    We have a successful track record of identifying, acquiring and integrating acquisitions. We believe that in the future there may be a number of attractive potential acquisition candidates, in part due to the fragmented nature of the industry. We plan to continue our disciplined pursuit of strategic acquisitions to strengthen our product portfolio, enhance our industry leadership, leverage fixed costs, expand our global footprint, and create value in products and markets that we know and understand.

Focus on Key Niche End Markets to Increase Organic Growth.    We emphasize strategic marketing to focus on new growth opportunities in key end-user and OEM markets. Through a systematic process that leverages our core brands and products, we seek to identify attractive markets and product niches, collect customer and market data, identify market drivers, tailor product and service solutions to specific market and customer requirements, and deploy resources to gain market share and drive future sales growth.

Disciplined Capital Allocation.   We expect that our businesses typically will generate annual free cash flow. We are focused on the most efficient allocation of our capital to maximize investment returns. To do this, we grow and support our existing businesses through annual investment in capital spending with a focus on internal projects to expand markets, develop products, and boost productivity. We continue to evaluate our portfolio for strategic fit and intend to make additional strategic acquisitions focused on our key markets.  We have consistently provided shareholder returns by paying regular dividends, which have increased by 300% since being introduced during the quarter ended March 31, 2012.  During the quarter ended June 30, 2014, we initiated purchases under our $50 million share repurchase program, the (“2014 Repurchase Program”), and we repurchased approximately $34.9 million of Altra common stock under the 2014 Repurchase Program prior to its termination in October 2016. On October 19, 2016, our board of directors approved a new share repurchase program authorizing the buyback of up to $30.0 million of the Company's common stock through December 31, 2019. This plan replaces the previous 2014 Repurchase Program which was terminated.

Our Strengths

Operational Excellence.    We benefit from an established culture of lean management emphasizing quality, delivery and cost control through our Operational Excellence program. Operational Excellence is at the core of our performance-driven culture and drives both our strategic development and operational improvements. We continually evaluate every aspect of our business to identify possible productivity improvements and cost savings.

Leading Market Shares and Brand Names.    We believe we hold the number one or number two market position in key products across many of our core platforms. In addition, we believe we have recently captured additional market share in several product lines due to our innovative product development efforts and exceptional customer service and product delivery.

Customized, Engineered Products Serving Niche Markets.    We employ approximately 350 non-manufacturing engineers involved with product design, research and development, testing and technical customer support, and we often participate in lengthy design and qualification processes with our customers. Many of our product lines involve a large number of unique parts, are delivered in small order quantities with short lead times, and require varying levels of technical support and responsive customer service. As a result of these characteristics, as well as the essential nature of our products to the efficient operations of our customers, we generate a significant amount of recurring sales with repeat customers.

Aftermarket Sales Supported by Large Installed Base.    On average, our brands have been in operation for 85 years and we believe we benefit from one of the largest installed customer bases in the industry. The moving, wearing nature of our products necessitates regular replacement and our large installed base of products generates significant aftermarket replacement demand. This has created a recurring revenue stream from a diversified group of end-user customers. For 2016, we estimate that approximately 37% of our revenues were derived from aftermarket sales.

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Diversified End Markets.    Our revenue base has a balanced exposure across a diverse mix of end-user industries, including energy, food processing, general industrial, material handling, mining, transportation, and turf and garden. We believe our diversified end markets insulate us from volatility in any single industry or type of end-user. In 2016, no single industry represented more than 8% of our total sales. We are geographically diversified with approximately 42% of our sales coming from outside North America during 2016. Looking forward, we expect that approximately 10% of our revenues will be generated from the wind end market with the acquisition of Stromag.

Strong Relationships with Distributors and OEMs.    We have over 1,000 direct OEM customers and enjoy established, long-term relationships with the leading industrial MPT distributors, critical factors that contribute to our high base of recurring aftermarket revenues. We sell our products through more than 3,000 distributor outlets worldwide. We believe our scale, expansive product lines and end-user preference for our products make our product portfolio attractive to both large and multi-branch distributors, as well as regional and independent distributors in our industry.

Experienced, High-Caliber Management Team.    We are led by a highly experienced management team with over 250 years of cumulative industrial business experience and an average of over 15 years with our companies. Our CEO, Carl Christenson, has over 30 years of experience in the MPT industry, while our CFO, Christian Storch, has more than 25 years of experience. Our management team has established a proven track record of execution, successfully completing and integrating major strategic acquisitions and delivering significant growth and profitability.

Business Segments

During the quarter ended September 30, 2015, the Company realigned its reporting and management structure and corresponding reportable business segments as part of its business simplification efforts. This new structure is better aligned across the Company’s end markets and will better facilitate the Company’s strategic initiatives for growth, procurement and facility consolidation.

We operate three business segments that are aligned by our product offerings:

Couplings, Clutches and Brakes business segment

Couplings.    Couplings are the interface between two shafts, which enable power to be transmitted from one shaft to the other. Because shafts are often misaligned, we design our couplings with a measure of flexibility that accommodates various degrees of misalignment.  Altra manufactures a diverse variety of couplings suitable for many industrial and specialty applications.  Our various coupling products include: gear couplings, high performance diaphragm and disc couplings, elastomeric couplings, miniature and precision couplings, as well as universal joints, mill spindles and shaft locking devices.  These products are sold into many different markets, including: food processing, oil and gas, power generation, material handling, medical, metals, mining, and mobile off-highway.  Our couplings are primarily manufactured under the Ameridrives, Bibby, Lamiflex, TB Wood’s, Huco Dynatork, Guardian and Stromag brands in our facilities in Indiana, Pennsylvania, Texas, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Germany, China and Mexico.

Clutches and Brakes.    Primarily utilized in heavy duty industrial, mining and energy applications, clutches are devices which use mechanical, magnetic, hydraulic, pneumatic, or friction type connections to facilitate engaging or disengaging two rotating members. Brakes are combinations of interacting parts that work to slow or stop machinery. We manufacture a variety of clutches and brakes in two main product categories: heavy duty and overrunning. Our core clutch and brake manufacturing facilities are located in Michigan, Texas, Denmark, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Brazil, India and China.

Engineered Belted Drives.    Belted drives incorporate both a rubber-based belt and at least two sheaves or synchronous sprockets. Belted drives typically change the speed of an electric motor or engine to the level required for a particular piece of

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equipment. Our belted drive line includes three types of v-belts, three types of synchronous belts, standard and made-to-order sheaves and synchronous sprockets, and split taper bushings. We sell belted drives to a wide range of end markets, including aggregate, energy, chemical and material handling. Our engineered belted drives are primarily manufactured under the TB Wood’s brand in our facilities in Pennsylvania and Mexico.

Electromagnetic Clutches and Brakes business segment

Products in this segment include brakes and clutches that are used to electronically slow, stop, engage or disengage equipment utilizing electromagnetic friction type connections. Our industrial products include clutches and brakes with specially designed controls for material handling, forklift, elevator, medical mobility, mobile off-highway, baggage handling and plant productivity applications. We also offer a line of clutch and brake products for walk-behind mowers, residential lawn tractors and commercial mowers. While industrial applications are predominant, we also manufacture products for several niche vehicular applications including on-road refrigeration compressor clutches and agricultural equipment clutches. We market our electromagnetic products under the Warner Electric, Inertia Dynamics, Matrix and Stromag brand names.  Our core electromagnetic clutches and brakes manufacturing facilities are located in Connecticut, Indiana, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and China.

Gearing business segment

Gearing.    Gears reduce the output speed and increase the torque of an electric motor or engine to the level required to drive a particular piece of equipment. These products are used in various industrial, material handling, mixing, transportation and food processing applications. Specific product lines include vertical and horizontal gear drives, speed reducers and increasers, high-speed compressor drives, enclosed custom gear drives, various enclosed gear drive and gear motor configurations and open gearing products such as spur, helical, worm and miter/bevel gears. We design and manufacture a broad range of gearing and gear motor products under the Boston Gear, Nuttall Gear, Delroyd, and Bauer Gear Motor brand names. We manufacture our gearing products at our facilities in New York, North Carolina, Germany, Slovakia, and China, and sell to a wide variety of end markets.

Engineered Bearing Assemblies.    Bearings are components that support, guide and reduce friction of motion between fixed and moving machine parts. Our engineered bearing assembly product line includes ball bearings, roller bearings, thrust bearings, track rollers, stainless steel bearings, polymer assemblies, housed units and custom assemblies. We manufacture a broad range of engineered bearing products under the Kilian brand name. We sell bearing products to a wide range of end industries, including the general industrial and automotive markets, with a particularly strong OEM customer focus. We manufacture our bearing products at our facilities in New York and Canada.

Research and Development and Product Engineering

We closely integrate new product development with marketing, manufacturing and product engineering in meeting the needs of our customers. We have product engineering teams that work to enhance our existing products and develop new product applications for our growing base of customers that require custom solutions. We believe these capabilities provide a significant competitive advantage in the development of high quality industrial power transmission products. Our product engineering teams focus on:

Our continued investment in new product development is intended to help drive customer growth as we address key customer needs.  We spend approximately 2.0% - 2.5% of net sales on our annual research and development efforts.

Sales and Marketing

We sell our products in over 70 countries to over 1,000 direct OEM customers and over 3,000 distributor outlets. We offer our products through our direct sales force comprised of approximately 230 company-employed sales associates as well as independent sales representatives. Our worldwide sales and distribution presence enables us to provide timely and responsive support and service to our customers, many of which operate globally, and to capitalize on growth opportunities in both developed and emerging markets around the world.  While the Company did not have any individual customers that represented total sales of greater than 10.0%, the Gearing business segment had one customer that approximated 10.2% of total sales during the year ended December 31, 2016.

We employ an integrated sales and marketing strategy concentrated on both key industries and individual product lines. We believe this dual vertical market and horizontal product approach distinguishes us in the marketplace allowing us to quickly identify

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trends and customer growth opportunities and deploy resources accordingly. Within our key industries, we market to OEMs, encouraging them to incorporate our products into their equipment designs, to distributors and to end-users, helping to foster brand preference. With this strategy, we are able to leverage our industry experience and product breadth to sell MPT and motion control solutions for a host of industrial applications.

Distribution

Our MPT components are either incorporated into end products sold by OEMs or sold through industrial distributors as aftermarket products to end users and smaller OEMs. We operate a geographically diversified business. For the year ended December 31, 2016, we derived approximately 58% of our net sales from customers in North America, 28% from customers in Europe and 14% from customers in Asia and the rest of the world. Our global customer base is served by an extensive global sales network comprised of our sales staff as well as our network of over 3,000 distributor outlets.

Rather than serving as passive conduits for delivery of product, our industrial distributors are active participants in influencing product purchasing decisions in the MPT industry. In addition, distributors play a critical role through stocking inventory of our products, which amplifies the accessibility of our products to aftermarket buyers. It is for this reason that distributor partner relationships are so critical to the success of the business. We enjoy strong established relationships with the leading distributors as well as a broad, diversified base of specialty and regional distributors.

Competition

We operate in highly fragmented and very competitive markets within the MPT market. Some of our competitors have achieved substantially more market penetration in certain of the markets in which we operate, such as helical gear drives, and some of our competitors are larger than us and have greater financial and other resources. In particular, we compete with Rexnord Corporation and Regal-Beloit Corporation. In addition, with respect to certain of our products, we compete with divisions of our OEM customers. Competition in our business lines is based on a number of considerations including quality, reliability, pricing, availability and design and application engineering support. Our customers increasingly demand a broad product range and we must continue to develop our expertise in order to manufacture and market these products successfully. To remain competitive, regular investment in manufacturing, customer service and support, marketing, sales, research and development and intellectual property protection is required. We may have to adjust the prices of some of our products to stay competitive. In addition, some of our larger, more sophisticated customers are attempting to reduce the number of vendors from which they purchase in order to increase their efficiency. There is substantial and continuing pressure on major OEMs and larger distributors to reduce costs, including the cost of products purchased from outside suppliers such as us. As a result of cost pressures from our customers, our ability to compete depends in part on our ability to generate production cost savings and, in turn, find reliable, cost-effective outside component suppliers or manufacturers for our products. See “Risk Factors — Risks Related to our Business — We operate in the highly competitive mechanical power transmission industry and if we are not able to compete successfully our business may be significantly harmed.”

Intellectual Property

We rely on a combination of patents, trademarks, copyright, and trade secret laws in the United States and other jurisdictions, as well as employee and third-party non-disclosure agreements, license arrangements, and domain name registrations to protect our intellectual property. We sell our products under a number of registered and unregistered trademarks, which we believe are widely recognized in the MPT industry. With the exception of Boston Gear, Warner Electric, TB Wood’s, Svendborg, Bauer and Stromag we do not believe any single patent, trademark or trade name is material to our business as a whole. Any issued patents that cover our proprietary technology and any of our other intellectual property rights may not provide us with adequate protection or be commercially beneficial to us and, patents applied for, may not be issued. The issuance of a patent is not conclusive as to its validity or its enforceability. Competitors may also be able to design around our patents. If we are unable to protect our patented technologies, our competitors could commercialize technologies or products which are substantially similar to ours.

With respect to proprietary know-how, we rely on trade secret laws in the United States and other jurisdictions and on confidentiality agreements. Monitoring the unauthorized use of our technology is difficult and the steps we have taken may not prevent unauthorized use of our technology. The disclosure or misappropriation of our intellectual property could harm our ability to protect our rights and our competitive position.

Some of our registered and unregistered trademarks include: Warner Electric, Boston Gear, TB Wood’s, Kilian, Nuttall Gear, Ameridrives, Wichita Clutch, Formsprag, Bibby Transmissions, Stieber, Matrix, Inertia Dynamics, Twiflex, Industrial Clutch, Huco Dynatork, Marland, Delroyd, Warner Linear, Bauer Gear Motor, PowerFlex, Svendborg Brakes, Guardian Couplings, and Stromag.

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Employees

As of December 31, 2016, we had 4,564 full-time employees, of whom approximately 43% were located in North America (primarily U.S.), 43% in Europe, and 14% in Asia and the rest of the world. Approximately 14% of our full-time factory U.S. employees are represented by labor unions. In addition, approximately 1,415 employees or 72% of our European employees are represented by labor unions or works councils. Approximately 53 employees in the Lamiflex production facilities in Brazil are represented by a works council. Additionally, approximately 82 employees in the TB Wood’s production facility in Mexico are unionized under a collective bargaining agreement that is subject to annual renewals.

We are a party to four U.S. collective bargaining agreements. The agreements will expire in June 2017, July 2017, February 2018 and November 2019.

We are also party to a collective bargaining agreement with approximately 62 union employees at our Toronto, Canada manufacturing facility. That agreement will expire in July 2018.

One of the four U.S. collective bargaining agreements contains provisions for additional, potentially significant, lump-sum severance payments to all employees covered by that agreement who are terminated as the result of a plant closing and one of our collective bargaining agreements contains provisions restricting our ability to terminate or relocate operations. See “Risk Factors — Risks Related to Our Business — We may be subject to work stoppages at our facilities, or our customers may be subjected to work stoppages, which could seriously impact our operations and the profitability of our business.”

Our facilities in Europe and Brazil have employees who are generally represented by local or national social works councils. Social works councils meet with employer industry associations periodically to discuss employee wages and working conditions. Our facilities in Denmark, France, Germany, Slovakia, and Brazil often participate in such discussions and adhere to any agreements reached.

Suppliers and Raw Materials

We obtain raw materials, component parts and supplies from a variety of sources, generally from more than one supplier. Our suppliers and sources of raw materials are based in both the United States and other countries and we believe that our sources of raw materials are adequate for our needs for the foreseeable future. We do not believe the loss of any one supplier would have a material adverse effect on our business or results of operations. Our principal raw materials are steel and copper. We generally purchase our materials on the open market, where certain commodities such as steel and copper have fluctuated in price significantly in recent years. We have not experienced any significant shortage of our key materials and have not historically engaged in hedging transactions for commodity suppliers.

Our ability, including manufacturing or distribution capabilities, and that of our suppliers, business partners and contract manufacturers, to make, move and sell products is critical to our success. Damage or disruption to our or their manufacturing or distribution capabilities due to weather, natural disaster, fire or explosion, terrorism, pandemics, strikes, repairs or enhancements at our facilities, excessive demand, raw material shortages, or other reasons, could impair our ability, and that of our suppliers, to manufacture or sell our products. Failure to take adequate steps to mitigate the likelihood or potential impact of such events, or to effectively manage such events if they occur, could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations, as well as require additional resources to restore our supply chain.

Seasonality

We experience seasonality in our turf and garden business, which represented approximately 8% of our net sales in 2016. As our large OEM customers prepare for the spring season, our shipments generally start increasing in December, peak in February and March, and begin to decline in April and May. This allows our customers to have inventory in place for the peak consumer purchasing periods for turf and garden products. The June-through-November period is typically the low season for us and our customers in the turf and garden market. Seasonality can also be affected by weather and the level of housing starts.

Regulation

We are subject to a variety of government laws and regulations that apply to companies engaged in international operations. These include compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, U.S. Department of Commerce export controls, local government regulations and procurement policies and practices (including regulations relating to import-export control, investments, exchange controls and repatriation of earnings). We maintain controls and procedures to comply with laws and regulations associated with our international operations. In the event we are unable to remain compliant with such laws and regulations, our business may be adversely affected.

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Environmental and Health and Safety Matters

We are subject to a variety of federal, state, local, foreign and provincial environmental laws and regulations, including those governing health and safety requirements, the discharge of pollutants into the air or water, the management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes and the responsibility to investigate and cleanup contaminated sites that are or were owned, leased, operated or used by us or our predecessors. Some of these laws and regulations require us to obtain permits, which contain terms and conditions that impose limitations on our ability to emit and discharge hazardous materials into the environment and periodically may be subject to modification, renewal and revocation by issuing authorities. Fines and penalties may be imposed for non-compliance with applicable environmental laws and regulations and the failure to have or to comply with the terms and conditions of required permits. From time to time, our operations may not be in full compliance with the terms and conditions of our permits. We periodically review our procedures and policies for compliance with environmental laws and requirements. We believe that our operations generally are in material compliance with applicable environmental laws and requirements and that any non-compliance would not be expected to result in us incurring material liability or cost to achieve compliance. Historically, our costs of achieving and maintaining compliance with environmental laws and requirements have not been material.

Certain environmental laws in the United States, such as the federal Superfund law and similar state laws, impose liability for the cost of investigation or remediation of contaminated sites upon the current or, in some cases, the former site owners or operators and upon parties who arranged for the disposal of wastes or transported or sent those wastes to an off-site facility for treatment or disposal, regardless of when the release of hazardous substances occurred or the lawfulness of the activities giving rise to the release. Such liability can be imposed without regard to fault and, under certain circumstances, can be joint and several, resulting in one party being held responsible for the entire obligation. As a practical matter, however, the costs of investigation and remediation generally are allocated among the viable responsible parties on some form of equitable basis. Liability also may include damages to natural resources. In addition, from time to time, we are notified that we are a potentially responsible party and may have liability in connection with off-site disposal facilities. To date, we have generally resolved matters involving off-site disposal facilities for a nominal sum although there can be no assurance that we will be able to resolve pending and future matters in a similar fashion.

Executive Officers of Registrant

The following sets forth certain information with regard to our executive officers as of February 27, 2017 (ages are as of December 31, 2016):

Carl R. Christenson (age 57) has been our Chief Executive Officer since January 2009, a director since July 2007 and Chairman of the Board since 2014. Prior to his current position, Mr. Christenson served as our President and Chief Operating Officer from January 2005 to December 2008. From 2001 to 2005, Mr. Christenson was the President of Kaydon Bearings, a manufacturer of custom-engineered bearings and a division of Kaydon Corporation. Prior to joining Kaydon, Mr. Christenson held a number of management positions at TB Wood’s Incorporated and several positions at the Torrington Company. Mr. Christenson holds a M.S. and B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts and an M.B.A. from Rensselaer Polytechnic.

Christian Storch (age 57) has been our Chief Financial Officer since December 2007. From 2001 to 2007, Mr. Storch was the Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Standex International Corporation. Mr. Storch also served on the Board of Directors of Standex International from October 2004 to December 2007. Mr. Storch also served as Standex International’s Treasurer from 2003 to April 2006 and Manager of Corporate Audit and Assurance Services from July 1999 to 2001. Prior to Standex International, Mr. Storch was a Divisional Financial Director and Corporate Controller at Vossloh AG, a publicly held German transport technology company. Mr. Storch has also previously served as an Audit Manager with Deloitte & Touche, LLP. Mr. Storch holds a degree in business administration from the University of Passau, Germany.

Glenn Deegan (age 50) has been our Vice President, Legal and Human Resources, General Counsel and Secretary since June 2009. Prior to his current position, Mr. Deegan served as our General Counsel and Secretary since September 2008. From March 2007 to August 2008, Mr. Deegan served as Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Averion International Corp., a publicly held global provider of clinical research services. Prior to Averion, from June 2001 to March 2007, Mr. Deegan served as Director of Legal Affairs and then as Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of MacroChem Corporation, a publicly held specialty pharmaceutical company. From 1999 to 2001, Mr. Deegan served as Assistant General Counsel of Summit Technology, Inc., a publicly held manufacturer of ophthalmic laser systems. Mr. Deegan previously spent over six years engaged in the private practice of law and also served as law clerk to the Honorable Francis J. Boyle in the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island. Mr. Deegan holds a B.S. from Providence College and a J.D. from Boston College.

Gerald Ferris (age 67) has been our Vice President of Global Sales since May 2007 and held the same position with Power Transmission Holdings, LLC, our predecessor, since March 2002. He is responsible for the worldwide sales of our broad product

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platform. Mr. Ferris joined our predecessor in 1978 and since joining has held various positions. He became the Vice President of Sales for Boston Gear in 1991. Mr. Ferris holds a B.A. degree in Political Science from Stonehill College.

Todd B. Patriacca (age 47) has been our Vice President of Finance, Corporate Controller and Treasurer since February 2010. Prior to his current position, Mr. Patriacca served as our Vice President of Finance, Corporate Controller and Assistant Treasurer since October 2008 and previous to that, as Vice President of Finance and Corporate Controller since May 2007 and as Corporate Controller since May 2005. Prior to joining us, Mr. Patriacca was Corporate Finance Manager at MKS Instrument Inc., a publicly held semi-conductor equipment manufacturer since March 2002. Prior to MKS, Mr. Patriacca spent over ten years at Arthur Andersen LLP in the Assurance Advisory practice. Mr. Patriacca is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a B.A. in History from Colby College and an M.B.A. and an M.S. in Accounting from Northeastern University.

Craig Schuele (age 53) has been our Vice President of Marketing and Business Development since May 2007 and held the same position with our predecessor since July 2004. He is responsible for global marketing as well as coordinating Altra’s merger and acquisition activity.  Prior to his current position, Mr. Schuele has been Vice President of Marketing since March 2002, and previous to that he was a Director of Marketing. Mr. Schuele joined our predecessor in 1986 and holds a B.S. degree in Management from Rhode Island College.

Risks Related to Our Business

We operate in the highly competitive mechanical power transmission industry and if we are not able to compete successfully our business may be significantly harmed.

We operate in highly fragmented and very competitive markets in the MPT industry. Some of our competitors have achieved substantially more market penetration in certain of the markets in which we operate, such as helical gear drives, and some of our competitors are larger than us and have greater financial and other resources. With respect to certain of our products, we compete with divisions of our OEM customers. Competition in our business lines is based on a number of considerations, including quality, reliability, pricing, availability, and design and application engineering support. Our customers increasingly demand a broad product range and we must continue to develop our expertise in order to manufacture and market these products successfully. To remain competitive, regular investment in manufacturing, customer service and support, marketing, sales, research and development and intellectual property protection is required. In the future we may not have sufficient resources to continue to make such investments and may not be able to maintain our competitive position within each of the markets we serve. We may have to adjust the prices of some of our products to stay competitive.

Additionally, some of our larger, more sophisticated customers are attempting to reduce the number of vendors from which they purchase in order to increase their efficiency. If we are not selected to become one of these preferred providers, we may lose market share in some of the markets in which we compete.

There is substantial and continuing pressure on major OEMs and larger distributors to reduce costs, including the cost of products purchased from outside suppliers. As a result of cost pressures from our customers, our ability to compete depends in part on our ability to generate production cost savings and, in turn, to find reliable, cost effective outside suppliers to source components or manufacture our products. If we are unable to generate sufficient cost savings in the future to offset price reductions, then our gross margin could be materially adversely affected.

General economic changes in or the cyclical nature of our markets could harm our operations and financial performance.

Global economic and financial market conditions have been weak and/or volatile in recent years, and those conditions have adversely affected our business operations and are expected to continue to adversely affect our business.  A weakening of current conditions or a future downturn may adversely affect our future results of operations and financial condition. Weak, challenging or volatile economic conditions in the end-markets, businesses or geographic areas in which we sell our products could reduce demand for products and result in a decrease in sales volume for a prolonged period of time, which would have a negative impact on our future results of operations.

Our financial performance depends, in large part, on conditions in the markets that we serve and on the U.S. and global economies in general. Some of the markets we serve are highly cyclical, such as the metals, mining, industrial equipment and energy markets, including oil and gas. In such an environment, expected cyclical activity or sales may not occur or may be delayed and may result in significant quarter-to-quarter variability in our performance. Any sustained weakness in demand, downturn or uncertainty in cyclical markets may reduce our sales and profitability.

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We rely on independent distributors and the loss of these distributors could adversely affect our business.

In addition to our direct sales force and manufacturer sales representatives, we depend on the services of independent distributors to sell our products and provide service and aftermarket support to our customers. We support an extensive distribution network, with over 3,000 distributor locations worldwide. Rather than serving as passive conduits for delivery of product, our independent distributors are active participants in the overall competitive dynamics in the MPT industry. During the year ended December 31, 2016, approximately 30% of our net sales from continuing operations were generated through independent distributors. In particular, sales through our largest distributor accounted for approximately 7% of our net sales for the year ended December 31, 2016. Almost all of the distributors with whom we transact business offer competitive products and services to our customers. In addition, the distribution agreements we have are typically non-exclusive and cancelable by the distributor after a short notice period. The loss of any major distributor or a substantial number of smaller distributors or an increase in the distributors’ sales of our competitors’ products to our customers could materially reduce our sales and profits.

We must continue to invest in new technologies and manufacturing techniques; however, our ability to develop or adapt to changing technology and manufacturing techniques is uncertain and our failure to do so could place us at a competitive disadvantage.

The successful implementation of our business strategy requires us to invest continuously in new technologies and manufacturing techniques to evolve our existing products and introduce new products to meet our customers’ needs in the industries we serve and want to serve. For example, motion control products offer more precise positioning and control compared to industrial clutches and brakes. If manufacturing processes are developed to make motion control products more price competitive and less complicated to operate, our customers may decrease their purchases of MPT products.

Our products are characterized by performance and specification requirements that mandate a high degree of manufacturing and engineering expertise. We believe that our customers rigorously evaluate their suppliers on the basis of a number of factors, including:

Our success depends on our ability to invest in new technologies and manufacturing techniques to continue to meet our customers’ changing demands with respect to the above factors. We may not be able to make required capital expenditures and, even if we do so, we may be unsuccessful in addressing technological advances or introducing new products necessary to remain competitive within our markets. Furthermore, our own technological developments may not be able to produce a sustainable competitive advantage. If we fail to invest successfully in improvements to our technology and manufacturing techniques, our business may be materially adversely affected.

Our operations are subject to international risks that could affect our operating results.

Our net sales outside North America represented approximately 42% of our total net sales for the year ended December 31, 2016. In addition, we sell products to domestic customers for use in their products sold overseas. We also source a significant portion of our products and materials from overseas. Our financial performance has been, and is expected to continue to be, adversely impacted by foreign currency exchange rates. Our business is subject to risks associated with doing business internationally, and our future results could be materially adversely affected by a variety of factors, including:

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In addition, our international operations are governed by various U.S. laws and regulations, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other similar laws that prohibit us and our business partners from making improper payments or offers of payment to foreign governments and their officials and political parties for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. Any alleged or actual violations of these regulations may subject us to government scrutiny, severe criminal or civil sanctions and other liabilities.

As we continue to expand our business globally, our success will depend, in large part, on our ability to anticipate and effectively manage these and other risks associated with our international operations. However, any of these factors could materially adversely affect our international operations and, consequently, our operating results.

Our operations depend on commercial activities and production facilities throughout the world, many of which may be located in jurisdictions that are subject to increased risks of disrupted production or commercial activities causing delays in shipments and loss of customers and revenue.

We operate businesses with manufacturing facilities worldwide, many of which are located outside the United States including in Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Mexico, Russia, Slovakia, and the United Kingdom. Serving a global customer base requires that we place production in emerging markets to capitalize on market opportunities and cost efficiencies. Our international production facilities and operations and commercial activities could be disrupted by currency fluctuations and devaluation, capital and currency exchange controls, low or negative economic growth rates, natural disaster, labor strike, military activity or war, political unrest, terrorist activity, or public health concerns, particularly in emerging countries that are not well-equipped to handle such occurrences. Any such disruptions could materially adversely affect our business.

We rely on estimated forecasts of our OEM customers’ needs, and inaccuracies in such forecasts could materially adversely affect our business.

We generally sell our products pursuant to individual purchase orders instead of under long-term purchase commitments. Therefore, we rely on estimated demand forecasts, based upon input from our customers, to determine how much material to purchase and product to manufacture. Because our sales are based on purchase orders, our customers may cancel, delay or otherwise modify their purchase commitments with little or no consequence to them and with little or no notice to us. For these reasons, we generally have limited visibility regarding our customers’ actual product needs. The quantities or timing required by our customers for our products could vary significantly. Whether in response to changes affecting the industry or a customer’s specific business pressures, any cancellation, delay or other modification in our customers’ orders could significantly reduce our revenue, impact our working capital, cause our operating results to fluctuate from period to period and make it more difficult for us to predict our revenue. In the event of a cancellation or reduction of an order, we may not have enough time to reduce operating expenses to minimize the effect of the lost revenue on our business and we may purchase too much inventory and spend more capital than expected, which may materially adversely affect our business.

From time to time, our customers may experience deterioration of their businesses. In addition, during periods of economic difficulty, our customers may not be able to accurately estimate demand forecasts and may scale back orders in an abundance of caution. As a result, existing or potential customers may delay or cancel plans to purchase our products and may not be able to fulfill their obligations to us in a timely fashion. Such cancellations, reductions or inability to fulfill obligations could significantly reduce our revenue, impact our working capital, cause our operating results to fluctuate adversely from period to period and make it more difficult for us to predict our revenue.

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Our inability to efficiently utilize or re-negotiate minimum purchase requirements in certain supply agreements could decrease our profitability.

Our ability to maintain and expand our business depends, in part, on our ability to continue to obtain raw materials and component parts on favorable terms from various suppliers. Agreements with some of our suppliers contain minimum purchase requirements. We can give no assurance that we will be able to utilize the minimum amount of raw materials or component parts that we are required to purchase under certain supply agreements which contain minimum purchase requirements. If we are required to purchase more raw materials or component parts than we are able to utilize in the operation of our business, the costs of providing our products would likely increase, which could decrease our profitability and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Disruption of our supply chain could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our ability, including manufacturing or distribution capabilities, and that of our suppliers, business partners and contract manufacturers, to make, move and sell products is critical to our success. Damage or disruption to our or their manufacturing or distribution capabilities due to weather, natural disaster, fire or explosion, terrorism, pandemics, strikes, repairs or enhancements at our facilities, excessive demand, raw material shortages, or other reasons, could impair our ability, and that of our suppliers, to manufacture or sell our products. Failure to take adequate steps to mitigate the likelihood or potential impact of such events, or to effectively manage such events if they occur, could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations, as well as require additional resources to restore our supply chain.

The materials used to produce our products are subject to price fluctuations that could increase costs of production and adversely affect our profitability.

The materials used to produce our products, especially copper and steel, are sourced on a global or regional basis and the prices of those materials are susceptible to price fluctuations due to supply and demand trends, transportation costs, government regulations and tariffs, changes in currency exchange rates, price controls, the economic climate and other unforeseen circumstances. If we are unable to continue to pass a substantial portion of such price increases on to our customers on a timely basis, our future profitability may be materially adversely affected. In addition, passing through these costs to our customers may also limit our ability to increase our prices in the future.

We face potential product liability claims relating to products we manufacture or distribute, which could result in our having to expend significant time and expense to defend these claims and to pay material damages or settlement amounts.

We face a business risk of exposure to product liability claims in the event that the use of our products is alleged to have resulted in injury or other adverse effects. We currently have several product liability claims against us with respect to our products. We may not be able to obtain product liability insurance on acceptable terms in the future, if at all, or obtain insurance that will provide adequate coverage against potential claims. Product liability claims can be expensive to defend and can divert the attention of management and other personnel for long periods of time, regardless of the ultimate outcome. An unsuccessful product liability defense could exceed any insurance that we maintain and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or our ability to make payments under our debt obligations when due. In addition, we believe our business depends on the strong brand reputation we have developed. In the event that our reputation is damaged, we may face difficulty in maintaining our pricing positions with respect to some of our products, which would reduce our sales and profitability.

We also risk exposure to product liability claims in connection with products sold by businesses that we acquire. We cannot assure you that third parties that have retained responsibility for product liabilities relating to products manufactured or sold prior to our acquisition of the relevant business or persons from whom we have acquired a business that are required to indemnify us for certain product liability claims subject to certain caps or limitations on indemnification will in fact satisfy their obligations to us with respect to liabilities retained by them or their indemnification obligations. If those third parties become unable to or otherwise do not comply with their respective obligations including indemnity obligations, or if certain product liability claims for which we are obligated were not retained by third parties or are not subject to these indemnities, we could become subject to significant liabilities or other adverse consequences. Moreover, even in cases where third parties retain responsibility for product liabilities or are required to indemnify us, significant claims arising from products that we have acquired could have a material adverse effect on our ability to realize the benefits from an acquisition, could result in our reducing the value of goodwill that we have recorded in connection with an acquisition, or could otherwise have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or operations.

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We may be subject to work stoppages at our facilities, or our customers may be subjected to work stoppages, which could seriously impact our operations and the profitability of our business.

As of December 31, 2016, we had 4,564 full-time employees, of whom approximately 43% were located in North America (primarily U.S.), 43% in Europe, and 14% in Asia and the rest of the world. Approximately 14% of our full-time factory U.S. employees are represented by labor unions. In addition, approximately 1,415 employees or 72% of our European employees are represented by labor unions or works councils. Approximately 53 employees in the Lamiflex production facilities in Brazil are represented by a works council. Additionally, approximately 82 employees in the TB Wood’s production facility in Mexico are unionized under a collective bargaining agreement that is subject to annual renewals.

We are a party to four U.S. collective bargaining agreements. The agreements will expire in June 2017, July 2017, February 2018 and November 2019. We are also party to a collective bargaining agreement with approximately 62 union employees at our Toronto, Canada manufacturing facility. That agreement will expire in July 2018.  We may be unable to renew these agreements on terms that are satisfactory to us, if at all.

One of the four U.S. collective bargaining agreements contains provisions for additional, potentially significant, lump-sum severance payments to all employees covered by that agreement who are terminated as the result of a plant closing and one of our collective bargaining agreements contains provisions restricting our ability to terminate or relocate operations.

Our facilities in Europe and Brazil have employees who are generally represented by local or national social works councils. Social works councils meet with employer industry associations periodically to discuss employee wages and working conditions. Our facilities in Denmark, France, Germany, Slovakia, and Brazil often participate in such discussions and adhere to any agreements reached.

If our unionized workers or those represented by a works council were to engage in a strike, work stoppage or other slowdown in the future, we could experience a significant disruption of our operations. Such disruption could interfere with our ability to deliver products on a timely basis and could have other negative effects, including decreased productivity and increased labor costs. In addition, if a greater percentage of our work force becomes unionized, our business and financial results could be materially adversely affected. Many of our direct and indirect customers have unionized work forces. Strikes, work stoppages or slowdowns experienced by these customers or their suppliers could result in slowdowns or closures of assembly plants where our products are used and could cause cancellation of purchase orders with us or otherwise result in reduced revenues from these customers.

Changes in employment laws could increase our costs and may adversely affect our business.

Various federal, state and international labor laws govern our relationship with employees and affect operating costs. These laws include minimum wage requirements, overtime, unemployment tax rates, workers’ compensation rates paid, leaves of absence, mandated health and other benefits, and citizenship requirements. Significant additional government-imposed increases or new requirements in these areas could materially affect our business, financial condition, operating results or cash flow.

In the event our employee-related costs rise significantly, we may have to curtail the number of our employees or shut down certain manufacturing facilities. Any such actions would not only be costly but could also materially adversely affect our business.

We depend on the services of key executives, the loss of whom could materially harm our business.

Our senior executives are important to our success because they are instrumental in setting our strategic direction, operating our business, maintaining and expanding relationships with distributors, identifying, recruiting and training key personnel, identifying expansion opportunities and arranging necessary financing. Losing the services of any of these individuals could adversely affect our business until a suitable replacement could be found. We believe that our senior executives could not easily be replaced with executives of equal experience and capabilities. Although we have entered into employment agreements with certain of our key domestic executives, we cannot prevent our key executives from terminating their employment with us. We do not maintain key person life insurance policies on any of our executives.

If we lose certain of our key sales, marketing or engineering personnel, our business may be adversely affected.

Our success depends on our ability to recruit, retain and motivate highly skilled sales, marketing and engineering personnel. Competition for these persons in our industry is intense and we may not be able to successfully recruit, train or retain qualified personnel. If we fail to retain and recruit the necessary personnel, our business and our ability to obtain new customers, develop new products and provide acceptable levels of customer service could suffer. If certain of these key personnel were to terminate their employment with us, we may experience difficulty replacing them, and our business could be harmed.

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We are subject to environmental laws that could impose significant costs on us and the failure to comply with such laws could subject us to sanctions and material fines and expenses.

We are subject to a variety of federal, state, local, foreign and provincial environmental laws and regulations, including those governing the discharge of pollutants into the air or water, the management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes and the responsibility to investigate and cleanup contaminated sites that are or were owned, leased, operated or used by us or our predecessors. Some of these laws and regulations require us to obtain permits, which contain terms and conditions that impose limitations on our ability to emit and discharge hazardous materials into the environment and periodically may be subject to modification, renewal and revocation by issuing authorities. Fines and penalties may be imposed for non-compliance with applicable environmental laws and regulations and the failure to have or to comply with the terms and conditions of required permits. From time to time, our operations may not be in full compliance with the terms and conditions of our permits. The operation of manufacturing plants entails risks related to compliance with environmental laws, requirements and permits, and a failure by us to comply with applicable environmental laws, regulations, or permits could result in civil or criminal fines, penalties, enforcement actions, third party claims for property damage and personal injury, requirements to clean up property or to pay for the costs of cleanup, or regulatory or judicial orders enjoining or curtailing operations or requiring corrective measures, including the installation of pollution control equipment or remedial actions. Moreover, if applicable environmental laws and regulations, or the interpretation or enforcement thereof, become more stringent in the future, we could incur capital or operating costs beyond those currently anticipated.

Certain environmental laws in the United States, such as the federal Superfund law and similar state laws, impose liability for the cost of investigation or remediation of contaminated sites upon the current or, in some cases, the former site owners or operators and upon parties who arranged for the disposal of wastes or transported or sent those wastes to an off-site facility for treatment or disposal, regardless of when the release of hazardous substances occurred or the lawfulness of the activities giving rise to the release. Such liability can be imposed without regard to fault and, under certain circumstances, can be joint and several, resulting in one party being held responsible for the entire obligation. As a practical matter, however, the costs of investigation and remediation generally are allocated among the viable responsible parties on some form of equitable basis. Liability also may include damages to natural resources. In addition, from time to time, we are notified that we are a potentially responsible party and may have liability in connection with off-site disposal facilities. There can be no assurance that we will be able to resolve pending and future matters relating to off-site disposal facilities at all or for nominal sums.

There is contamination at some of our current facilities, primarily related to historical operations at those sites, for which we could be liable for the investigation and remediation under certain environmental laws. The potential for contamination also exists at other of our current or former sites, based on historical uses of those sites. Our costs or liability in connection with potential contamination conditions at our facilities cannot be predicted at this time because the potential existence of contamination has not been investigated or not enough is known about the environmental conditions or likely remedial requirements. Currently, with respect to certain of our facilities, other parties with contractual liability are addressing or have plans or obligations to address those contamination conditions that may pose a material risk to human health, safety or the environment. In addition, there may be environmental conditions currently unknown to us relating to our prior, existing or future sites or operations or those of predecessor companies whose liabilities we may have assumed or acquired which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We are being indemnified, or expect to be indemnified by third parties subject to certain caps or limitations on the indemnification, for certain environmental costs and liabilities associated with certain owned or operated sites. We cannot assure you, that third parties who indemnify or who are expected to indemnify us for certain environmental costs and liabilities associated with certain owned or operated sites will in fact satisfy their indemnification obligations. If those third parties become unable to, or otherwise do not, comply with their respective indemnity obligations, or if certain contamination or other liability for which we are obligated is not subject to these indemnities, we could become subject to significant liabilities.

Our future success depends on our ability to integrate acquired companies and manage our growth effectively.

As part of our growth strategy, we have made and expect to continue to make, acquisitions. Our continued growth may depend on our ability to identify and acquire companies that complement or enhance our business on acceptable terms. We may not be able to identify or complete future acquisitions. In addition, our growth through acquisitions has placed, and will continue to place, significant demands on our management, operational and financial resources. Realization of the benefits of acquisitions often requires integration of some or all of the acquired companies’ sales and marketing, distribution, manufacturing, engineering, finance and administrative organizations. Integration of companies demands substantial attention from senior management and the management of the acquired companies. We may not be able to integrate successfully our recent acquisitions, or any future acquisitions, operate these acquired companies profitably, or realize the potential benefits from these acquisitions.

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The difficulties of integrating the operations of acquired businesses include, among others:

The market price of our common stock may decline as a result of acquisitions if, among other things, we are unable to achieve the expected growth in earnings, or if the operational cost savings estimates in connection with the integration of the acquired businesses are not realized, or if the transaction costs related to the acquisitions are greater than expected. The market price of our common stock also may decline if we do not achieve the perceived benefits of the acquisitions as rapidly or to the extent anticipated by financial or industry analysts or if the effect of the acquisitions on our financial results is not consistent with the expectations of financial or industry analysts.

We may not be able to protect our intellectual property rights, brands or technology effectively, which could allow competitors to duplicate or replicate our technology and could adversely affect our ability to compete.

We rely on a combination of patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret laws in the United States and other jurisdictions, as well as on license, non-disclosure, employee and consultant assignment and other agreements and domain names registrations in order to protect our proprietary technology and rights. Applications for protection of our intellectual property rights may not be allowed, and the rights, if granted, may not be maintained. In addition, third parties may infringe or challenge our intellectual property rights. In some cases, we rely on unpatented proprietary technology. It is possible that others will independently develop the same or similar technology or otherwise obtain access to our unpatented technology. In addition, in the ordinary course of our operations, we pursue potential claims from time to time relating to the protection of certain products and intellectual property rights, including with respect to some of our more profitable products. Such claims could be time consuming, expensive and divert resources. If we are unable to maintain the proprietary nature of our technologies or proprietary protection of our brands, our ability to market or be competitive with respect to some or all of our products may be affected, which could reduce our sales and profitability.

We or our products could infringe on the intellectual property of others, which may cause us to engage in costly litigation and, if we are not successful, could cause us to pay substantial damages and prohibit us from selling our products.

Third parties may assert infringement or other intellectual property claims against us based on their patents or other intellectual property claims, and we may have to pay substantial damages, possibly including treble damages, if it is ultimately determined that our products infringe. We may have to obtain a license to sell our products if it is determined that our products infringe upon another party’s intellectual property. We might be prohibited from selling our products before we obtain a license, which, if available at all, may require us to pay substantial royalties. Even if infringement claims against us are without merit, defending these types of lawsuits takes significant time, may be expensive and may divert management attention from other business concerns.

Goodwill and indefinite-lived intangibles comprises a significant portion of our total assets, and if we determine that goodwill or indefinite-lived intangibles become impaired in the future, net income in such years may be materially and adversely affected.

Goodwill represents the excess of cost over the fair market value of net assets acquired in business combinations. Due to the acquisitions we have completed historically, goodwill comprises a significant portion of our total assets. We review goodwill and indefinite-lived intangibles annually for impairment and any excess in carrying value over the estimated fair value is charged to the results of operations. Our prior review of indefinite-lived intangibles resulted in a $6.6 million reduction to the value of such assets in our financial statements in 2016. Future reviews of goodwill and indefinite lived intangibles could result in future reductions. Any reduction in net income resulting from the write down or impairment of goodwill and indefinite-lived intangibles could adversely affect our financial results. If economic conditions deteriorate we may be required to impair goodwill and indefinite-lived intangibles in future periods.

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Unplanned repairs or equipment outages could interrupt production and reduce income or cash flow.

Unplanned repairs or equipment outages, including those due to natural disasters, could result in the disruption of our manufacturing processes. Any interruption in our manufacturing processes would interrupt our production of products, reduce our income and cash flow and could result in a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.

Our operations are highly dependent on information technology infrastructure and failures could significantly affect our business.

We depend heavily on our information technology, or IT, infrastructure in order to achieve our business objectives. If we experience a problem that impairs this infrastructure, such as a computer virus, a problem with the functioning of an important IT application, or an intentional disruption of our IT systems by a third party, the resulting disruptions could impede our ability to record or process orders, manufacture and ship in a timely manner, or otherwise carry on our business in the ordinary course. Any such events could cause us to lose customers or revenue and could require us to incur significant expense to eliminate these problems and address related security concerns.

Computer viruses, malware, and other “hacking” programs and devices (“hacking events”) expose us to risk of theft of assets including cash. Any such event could require us to incur significant expense to eliminate these problems and address related security concerns.

Hacking events may also cause significant damage, delays or interruptions to our systems and operations or to certain of the products that we sell resulting in damage to our reputation and brand names.

Additionally, hacking events may attack our infrastructure, industrial machinery, software, or hardware causing significant damage, delays or other service interruptions to our systems and operations. “Hacking” involves efforts to gain unauthorized access to information or systems or to cause intentional malfunctions, loss or corruption of data, software, hardware, or other computer equipment. In addition, increasingly sophisticated malware may target real-world infrastructure or product components, including certain of the products that we currently or may in the future sell by attacking, disrupting, reconfiguring and/or reprogramming industrial control software. Hacking events could result in significant damage to our infrastructure, industrial machinery, systems, or databases. We may incur significant costs to protect our systems and equipment against the threat of, and to repair any damage caused by, computer viruses and hacking events. Moreover, if hacking events affect our systems or products, our reputation and brand names could be materially damaged and use of our products may decrease.

If we are unable to successfully implement our new ERP system across the Company or such implementation is delayed, our operations may be disrupted or become less efficient.

We are in the process of implementing a new Enterprise Resource Planning system entitled “SAP” worldwide, with the aim of enabling management to achieve better control over the Company through: improved quality, reliability and timeliness of information; improved integration and visibility of information stemming from different management functions and countries; and optimization and global management of corporate processes. The adoption of the new SAP system, which replaces the existing accounting and management systems, poses several challenges relating to, among other things, training of personnel, communication of new rules and procedures, changes in corporate culture, migration of data, and the potential instability of the new system. In order to mitigate the impact of such critical issues, the Company decided to implement the new SAP system on a step-by-step basis, both geographically and in terms of processes. If the remaining implementation of the SAP system is delayed, in whole or in part, we would continue to use our current systems which may not be sufficient to support our planned operations and significant upgrades to the current systems may be warranted or required to meet our business needs pending SAP implementation. In addition, we rely on third-party vendors to provide long-term software maintenance support and hosting services for our information systems. Software vendors may decide to discontinue further development, integration or long-term software maintenance support for our information systems, which may increase our operational expense as well as disrupt the management of our business operations. In addition, we do not control the operation of any third party hosting facilities. These facilities are vulnerable to damage or interruption from natural disasters, fires, power loss, telecommunications failures and similar events. They are also subject to break-ins, computer viruses, sabotage, intentional acts of vandalism and other misconduct. The occurrence of any of these disasters or other unanticipated problems with our third party hosting vendors could disrupt the management of, and have a material adverse effect on, our business operations. However, there can be no assurance that the new SAP system will be successfully implemented and failure to do so could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s operations.

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Our leverage could adversely affect our financial health and make us vulnerable to adverse economic and industry conditions.

As of January 15, 2017, we had approximately $313.6 million outstanding and $107.3 million available under our 2015 Revolving Credit Facility (as defined herein). Our indebtedness has important consequences; for example, it could:

Substantially all of the domestic personal property of the Company and its domestic subsidiaries and certain shares of certain non-domestic subsidiaries have been pledged as collateral against any outstanding borrowings under the Second Amended and Restated Credit Agreement dated October 22, 2015 (the “2015 Credit Agreement”) governing our 2015 Revolving Credit Facility. In addition, the 2015 Credit Agreement requires us to maintain specified financial ratios and satisfy certain financial condition tests, which may require that we take action to reduce our debt or to act in a manner contrary to our business objectives.

In the future, the then current economic and credit market conditions may limit our access to additional capital, to the extent that the 2015 Credit Agreement would otherwise permit additional financing, or may preclude our ability to refinance our existing indebtedness. There can be no assurance that there will not be a deterioration in the credit markets, a deterioration in the financial condition of our lenders or their ability to fund their commitments or, if necessary, that we will be able to find replacement financing, if need be, on similar or acceptable terms. An inability to access sufficient financing or capital could have an adverse impact on our operations and thus on our operating results and financial position.

Our 2015 Credit Agreement imposes significant operating and financial restrictions, which may prevent us from pursuing our business strategies or favorable business opportunities.

Subject to a number of important exceptions, the 2015 Credit Agreement may limit our ability to:

The restrictions contained in the 2015 Credit Agreement may prevent us from taking actions that we believe would be in the best interest of our business, and may make it difficult for us to successfully execute our business strategy or effectively compete with companies that are not similarly restricted. A breach of any of these covenants or the inability to comply with the required financial ratios could result in a default under the 2015 Credit Agreement. If any such default occurs, the lenders under the 2015 Credit Agreement may elect to declare all of the outstanding debt under the 2015 Credit Agreement, together with accrued interest and other amounts payable thereunder, to be immediately due and payable. The lenders under the 2015 Credit Agreement also have the right in those circumstances to terminate any commitments they have to provide further borrowings. In addition, following an event of default under the 2015 Credit Agreement, the lenders under the 2015 Credit Agreement will have the right to proceed against the collateral

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that secures the debt. If the debt under the 2015 Credit Agreement were to be accelerated, we may not have the ability to refinance that debt, and if we can, the terms of such refinancing may be less favorable than the current financing terms under the 2015 Credit Agreement. In the event that the indebtedness is accelerated, our assets may not be sufficient to repay in full all of our debt.

We face risks associated with our exposure to variable interest rates and foreign currency exchange rates.

We are exposed to various types of market risk in the normal course of business, including the impact of interest rate changes and foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations. Some of our indebtedness bears interest at variable rates, generally linked to market benchmarks such as LIBOR. Any increase in interest rates would increase our finance expenses relating to our variable rate indebtedness and increase the costs of refinancing our existing indebtedness and issuing new debt. A portion of our indebtedness is also euro denominated. In addition, we conduct our business and incur costs in the local currency of the countries in which we operate. As we continue expanding our business into markets such as Europe, China, Australia and South America, we expect that an increasing percentage of our revenue and cost of sales will be denominated in currencies other than the U.S. Dollar, our reporting currency. As a result, we are subject to currency translation risk, whereby changes in exchange rates between the dollar and the other currencies in which we borrow and do business could result in foreign exchange losses and have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

We are exposed to swap counterparty credit risk that could materially and adversely affect its business, operating results, and financial condition.

From time to time, we rely on interest rate swap contracts and hedging arrangements to effectively manage our interest rate risk. We entered into multiple cross-currency interest rate swaps in 2016 to manage the cash flow currency risks caused by interest rate and foreign exchange changes on outstanding borrowings under the 2015 Credit Agreement of $170.0 million related to the Company’s foreign financing of the Stromag Acquisition. In January 2017, the Company entered into an interest rate swap agreement designed to fix the variable interest rate payable on a portion of its outstanding borrowings under the 2015 Credit Agreement, for a notional value of $50.0 million, at 1.625%. Failure to perform under derivatives contracts by one or more of our counterparties could disrupt our hedging operations, particularly if we were entitled to a termination payment under the terms of the contract that we did not receive, if we had to make a termination payment upon default of the counterparty, or if we were unable to reposition the swap with a new counterparty.

We are subject to tax laws and regulations in many jurisdictions and the inability to successfully defend claims from taxing authorities related to our current or acquired businesses could adversely affect our operating results and financial position.

We conduct business in many countries, which requires us to interpret the income tax laws and rulings in each of those taxing jurisdictions. Due to the subjectivity of tax laws between those jurisdictions as well as the subjectivity of factual interpretations, our estimates of income tax liabilities may differ from actual payments or assessments. Claims from taxing authorities related to these differences could have an adverse impact on our operating results and financial position. Moreover, changes to tax laws and regulations in the U.S. or other countries where we do business could have an adverse effect on our operating results and financial position.

Certain of our businesses are exposed to renewable energy markets which depend significantly on the availability and size of government subsidies and economic incentives.

Certain of our businesses sell product to customers within the renewable energy market, which among other energy sources includes wind energy and solar energy. At present, the cost of many forms of renewable energy exceeds the cost of conventional power generation in many locations around the world. Various governments have used different policy initiatives to encourage or accelerate the development and adoption of renewable energy sources such as wind energy and solar energy. Renewable energy policies are in place in the European Union, certain countries in Asia, including China, Japan and South Korea, and many of the states in Australia and the United States. Examples of government sponsored financial incentives include capital cost rebates, feed-in tariffs, tax credits, net metering and other incentives to end-users, distributors, system integrators and manufacturers of renewable energy products to promote the use of renewable energy and to reduce dependency on other forms of energy. Governments may decide to reduce or eliminate these economic incentives for political, financial or other reasons. Reductions in, or eliminations of, government subsidies and economic incentives before renewable energy markets reach a sufficient scale to be cost-effective in a non-subsidized marketplace could reduce demand for our products and adversely affect our business prospects and results of operations.

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Regulations related to conflict minerals could adversely impact our business

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act contains provisions to improve transparency and accountability concerning the supply of certain minerals, known as conflict minerals, originating from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and adjoining countries. As a result, in August 2012 the SEC adopted annual disclosure and reporting requirements for those companies who use conflict minerals mined from the DRC and adjoining countries in their products. These new requirements required country of origin inquiries and potentially due diligence, with initial disclosure requirements beginning in May 2014 relating to activities in 2013. There have been and will continue to be costs associated with complying with these disclosure requirements, including for country of origin inquiries and due diligence to determine the sources of conflict minerals used in our products and other potential changes to products, processes or sources of supply as a consequence of such verification activities. These rules could adversely affect the sourcing, supply and pricing of materials used in our products. As there may be only a limited number of suppliers offering “conflict free” conflict minerals, we cannot be sure that we will be able to obtain necessary conflict minerals from such suppliers in sufficient quantities or at competitive prices. Also, we may face reputational challenges if we determine that certain of our products contain minerals not determined to be conflict free or if we are unable to verify sufficiently the origins for all conflict minerals used in our products through the procedures we have implemented.

Continued volatility and disruption in global financial markets could significantly impact our customers and suppliers, weaken the markets we serve and harm our operations and financial performance.

Our financial performance depends, in large part, on conditions in the markets that we serve and on the U.S. and global economies in general. As widely reported, U.S. and global financial markets have been experiencing disruption in recent years. Further, economic conditions in the European Union have deteriorated and, with the Bauer Acquisition, the Svendborg Acquisition and the Stromag Acquisition, our exposure to European markets has increased. Given the significance and widespread nature of these circumstances, the U.S., European, and global economies could remain significantly challenged for an indeterminate period of time. While currently these conditions have not impaired our ability to access credit markets and finance our operations, there can be no assurance that there will not be a further deterioration in financial markets and confidence in major economies. In addition, a tight credit market may adversely affect the ability of our customers to obtain financing for significant purchases and operations and could result in a decrease in or cancellation of orders for our products and services as well as impact the ability of our customers to make payments. Similarly, a tight credit market may adversely affect our supplier base and increase the potential for one or more of our suppliers to experience financial distress or bankruptcy. These conditions would harm our business by adversely affecting our sales, results of operations, profitability, cash flows, financial condition and long-term anticipated growth rate, which could result in potential impairment of certain long-term assets including goodwill.

We face risks associated with the Svendborg Acquisition and Stromag Acquisition Purchase Agreements.

In connection with the Svendborg Acquisition and the Stromag Acquisition, we are subject to substantially all of the liabilities of Svendborg and Stromag, respectively, that were not satisfied on or prior to the corresponding closing date. There may be liabilities that we underestimated or did not discover in the course of performing our due diligence investigation of Svendborg and Stromag. Under the Purchase Agreements, the sellers agreed to provide us with a limited set of representations and warranties, including with respect to outstanding and potential liabilities. Damages resulting from a breach of a representation or warranty could have a material and adverse effect on the Company’s financial condition and results of operations, and there is no guarantee that the Company would actually be able to recover all or any portion of the sums payable in connection with such breach.

We may not realize the value assigned to the Company’s facility in Changzhou, China.

In 2016, we completed the process of closing our facility in Changzhou, China.  As part of that closure, we are selling the facility and several of the assets of the entity.  There are several uncertainties in liquidating the business and we may not be able to realize the value we have assigned to the facility and related assets.

We may not be able to achieve the efficiencies, savings and other benefits anticipated from our cost reduction, margin improvement and other business optimization initiatives.

We have in the past undertaken and expect to continue to undertake various restructuring activities and cost reduction initiatives in an effort to better align our organizational structure and costs with our strategy. We cannot assure you that we will be able to achieve all of the cost savings that we expect to realize from current or future activities and initiatives.  Furthermore, in connection with these activities, we may experience a disruption in our ability to perform functions important to our strategy. Unexpected delays, increased costs, challenges with adapting our internal control environment to a new organizational structure, inability to retain and motivate employees or other challenges arising from these initiatives could adversely affect our ability to realize the anticipated savings or other intended benefits of these activities and could have a material adverse impact on our financial condition and operating results.

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The vote by the United Kingdom to leave the European Union could adversely affect us.

 

In a Referendum of the United Kingdom (or the U.K.) held on June 23, 2016, the UK voted to leave the European Union (E.U.) (referred to as Brexit), which could cause disruptions to and create uncertainty surrounding our business, including affecting our relationships with our existing and future customers, suppliers and employees, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial results and operations. The effects of Brexit will depend on any agreements the U.K. makes to retain access to E.U. markets either during a transitional period or more permanently. The measures could potentially disrupt the markets we serve and the tax jurisdictions in which we operate and adversely change tax benefits or liabilities in these or other jurisdictions, and may cause us to lose customers, suppliers, and employees. In addition, Brexit could lead to legal uncertainty and potentially divergent national laws and regulations as the U.K. determines which E.U. laws to replace or replicate.

 

None.

The number, type, location and size of the materially important physical properties used by our operations as of December 31, 2016 are shown in the following charts, by segment.

 

 

 

We believe our owned and leased facilities are well-maintained and suitable for our operations.

We are, from time to time, party to various legal proceedings arising out of our business. These proceedings primarily involve commercial claims, product liability claims, intellectual property claims, environmental claims, personal injury claims and workers’ compensation claims. We cannot predict the outcome of these lawsuits, legal proceedings and claims with certainty. Nevertheless, we believe that the outcome of any currently existing proceedings should not have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Not applicable.

 

 

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PART II

Market Information

Our common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol “AIMC”. As of February 24, 2017, the number of holders of record of our common stock was approximately 65.

The following table sets forth, for the periods indicated, the high and low sales price for our common stock as reported on The NASDAQ Global Market. Our common stock commenced trading on the NASDAQ Global Market on December 15, 2006.

 

 

Dividends

The Company declared and paid dividends of $0.60 per share of common stock for the year ended December 31, 2016. The Company declared and paid dividends of $0.57 per share for the year ended December 31, 2015.

On February 8, 2017, the Company declared a dividend of $0.15 per share for the quarter ended March 31, 2017, payable on April 4, 2017 to shareholders of record as of March 17, 2017.  See note 17 to the consolidated financial statements.

Future declarations of quarterly cash dividends are subject to approval by the Board of Directors and to the Board’s continuing determination that the declaration of dividends are in the best interest of the Company’s stockholders and are in compliance with all laws and agreements of the Company applicable to the declaration and payment of cash dividends.

Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans

The following table presents information concerning our equity compensation plans:

 

 

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Issuer Repurchases of Equity Securities

The following table summarizes our share repurchase activity by month for the quarter ended December 31, 2016.

 

 

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Performance Graph

The following graph compares the cumulative total stockholder return on our common stock for the 5-year period from December 31, 2011, through December 31, 2016, with the cumulative total return on shares of companies comprising the S&P Small Cap 600 Index, a special Peer Group Index (the “Old Peer Group”) and the newly-added S&P Small Cap 600 Capped Industrials Index (the “New Peer Group”) in each case assuming an initial investment of $100, assuming dividend reinvestment.  The Old Peer Group consists of the following publicly traded companies: Franklin Electric Co. Inc., RBC Bearings, Inc., and Regal Beloit Corp.  Going forward, the Old Peer Group will be excluded from this performance graph, and the Company’s total stockholder return will be compared only against the S&P Small Cap 600 Index and the New Peer Group. The New Peer Group was selected to provide a broader representation of the Company’s comparative businesses.

 

 

 

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities

From December 2016 to January 9, 2017, the Company converted an aggregate principal amount of $84,082,000 of the Company’s 2.75% Convertible Senior Notes due 2031 (the “Convertible Notes”) and issued approximately 3,272,000 shares of the Company’s common stock to the holders of the Convertible Notes, which Convertible Notes were surrendered for conversion pursuant to the terms of the indenture governing the Convertible Notes (the “Indenture”), at the option of the holders of the Convertible Notes in lieu of redemption of the Convertible Notes pursuant to the redemption provisions of the Indenture.

 

The issuance of the Company’s common stock was made pursuant to the exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), provided by Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act.

 

On January 12, 2017, the Convertible Notes had a remaining balance of $918,000, which balance was redeemed, in cash, pursuant to the terms of the Indenture.

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Item 6.Selected Financial Data.

The following table contains our selected historical financial data for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, and 2012. The following should be read in conjunction with “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and the consolidated financial statements and notes included elsewhere in this Form 10-K.

 

 

 

Comparability of the information included in the selected financial data has been impacted by the acquisitions of Lamiflex in 2012, Svendborg in 2013, Guardian in 2014, and Stromag in 2016.

 

 

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Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements, within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which reflect the Company’s current estimates, expectations and projections about the Company’s future results, performance, prospects and opportunities. Forward-looking statements include, among other things, the information concerning the Company’s possible future results of operations including revenue, costs of goods sold, gross margin, future profitability, future economic improvement, business and growth strategies, financing plans, the Company’s competitive position and the effects of competition, the projected growth of the industries in which we operate, and the Company’s ability to consummate strategic acquisitions and other transactions. Forward-looking statements include statements that are not historical facts and can be identified by forward-looking words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “may,” “should,” “will,” “would,” “project,” “forecast,” and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are based upon information currently available to the Company and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause the Company’s actual results, performance, prospects, or opportunities to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause the Company’s actual results to differ materially from the results referred to in the forward-looking statements the Company makes in this report include:

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ALL FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS SPEAK ONLY AS OF THE DATE OF THIS REPORT. EXCEPT AS REQUIRED BY LAW, WE UNDERTAKE NO OBLIGATION TO PUBLICLY UPDATE OR RELEASE ANY REVISIONS TO THESE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS TO REFLECT ANY EVENTS OR CIRCUMSTANCES AFTER THE DATE OF THIS REPORT OR TO REFLECT THE OCCURRENCE OF UNANTICIPATED EVENTS. ALL SUBSEQUENT WRITTEN AND ORAL FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS ATTRIBUTABLE TO US OR ANY PERSON ACTING ON THE COMPANY’S BEHALF ARE EXPRESSLY QUALIFIED IN THEIR ENTIRETY BY THE CAUTIONARY STATEMENTS CONTAINED OR REFERRED TO IN THIS SECTION AND IN OUR RISK FACTORS SET FORTH IN PART I, ITEM 1A OF THIS FORM 10-K AND IN OTHER REPORTS FILED WITH THE SEC BY THE COMPANY.

The following discussion of the financial condition and results of operations of Altra Industrial Motion Corp. and its subsidiaries should be read together with the Selected Historical Financial Data, and the consolidated financial statements of Altra Industrial Motion Corp. and its subsidiaries and related notes included elsewhere in this Form 10-K. The following discussion includes forward-looking statements. For a discussion of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results referred to in the forward-looking statements, see “Forward-Looking Statements” and “Risk Factors”. Unless the context requires otherwise, the terms “Altra,” “Altra Industrial Motion Corp.,” “the Company,” “we,” “us” and “our” refer to Altra Industrial Motion Corp. and its subsidiaries.

General

We are a leading global designer, producer and marketer of a wide range of electromechanical power transmission products with a presence in over 70 countries. Our global sales and marketing network includes over 1,000 direct OEM customers and over 3,000 distributor outlets. Our product portfolio includes industrial clutches and brakes, enclosed gear drives, open gearing, couplings, engineered bearing assemblies, linear components, gear motors, and other related products. Our products serve a wide variety of end

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markets including energy, general industrial, material handling, mining, transportation and turf and garden. We primarily sell our products to a wide range of OEMs and through long-standing relationships with industrial distributors such as Motion Industries, Applied Industrial Technologies, Kaman Industrial Technologies and W.W. Grainger.

While the power transmission industry has undergone some consolidation, we estimate that in 2016 the top five broad-based electromechanical power transmission companies represented approximately 14% of the U.S. power transmission market. The remainder of the power transmission industry remains fragmented with many small and family-owned companies that cater to a specific market niche often due to their narrow product offerings. We believe that consolidation in our industry will continue because of the increasing demand for global distribution channels, broader product mixes and better brand recognition to compete in this industry.

Business Outlook

Our future financial performance depends, in large part, on conditions in the markets that we serve and on the U.S., European, and global economies in general. Recently, our financial performance has been adversely impacted by foreign currency exchange rates and challenging dynamics in several of our end markets including oil and gas, agriculture, and mining. We do not expect an immediate or significant improvement in those end markets in the near term as there remains much uncertainty. In addition, we expect the Company’s core business to continue to face meaningful revenue and earnings headwinds relating to foreign exchange, assuming that the U.S. Dollar remains strong. At the same time, we believe that our consolidation, supply chain, pricing and operational excellence initiatives will enable us to enhance margins and accelerate profitability when our markets do rebound. Further, we expect the addition of our recently acquired Stromag business to be accretive in 2017.

Critical Accounting Policies

The methods, estimates and judgments we use in applying our critical accounting policies have a significant impact on the results we report in our financial statements. We evaluate our estimates and judgments on an on-going basis. Our estimates are based upon historical experience and assumptions that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances. Our experience and assumptions form the basis for our judgments about the carrying value of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may vary from what our management anticipates and different assumptions or estimates about the future could change our reported results.

We believe the following accounting policies are the most critical in that they are important to the financial statements and they require the most difficult, subjective or complex judgments in the preparation of the financial statements.

Inventory.    Inventories are generally stated at the lower of cost or market using the first-in, first-out (FIFO) method. The cost of inventory includes direct materials, direct labor, and production overhead.  Market is defined as net realizable value. We state inventories acquired through acquisitions at their fair value at the date of acquisition as based on the replacement cost of raw materials, the sales price of the finished goods less an appropriate amount representing the expected profitability from selling efforts, and for work-in-process the sales price of the finished goods less an appropriate amount representing the expected profitability from selling efforts and costs to complete.

We periodically review our quantities of inventories on hand and compare these amounts to the historical and expected usage of each particular product or product line. We record as a charge to cost of sales any amounts required to reduce the carrying value of inventories to net realizable value.

Business Combinations.    Business combinations are accounted for at fair value. Acquisition costs are generally expensed as incurred and recorded in selling, general and administrative expenses. The accounting for business combinations requires estimates and judgment as to expectations for future cash flows of the acquired business, and the allocation of those cash flows to identifiable intangible assets, in determining the estimated fair value for assets and liabilities acquired. The fair value assigned to tangible and intangible assets acquired and liabilities assumed are based on management’s estimates and assumptions, as well as other information compiled by management, including valuations that utilize customary valuation procedures and techniques. If the actual results differ from the estimates and judgments used in these estimates, the amounts recorded in the financial statements could result in a possible impairment of the intangible assets and goodwill, or require acceleration of the amortization expense of finite-lived intangible assets

Goodwill, Intangibles and other long-lived assets.    In connection with our acquisitions, goodwill and intangible assets were identified and recorded at fair value. We recorded intangible assets for customer relationships, trade names and trademarks, product technology, patents and goodwill. In valuing the customer relationships, trade names, and trademarks, we utilized variations of the income approach. The income approach was considered the most appropriate valuation technique because the inherent value of these assets is their ability to generate current and future income. The income approach relies on historical financial and qualitative

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information, as well as assumptions and estimates for projected financial information. Projected financial information is subject to risk if our estimates are incorrect. The most significant estimate relates to our projected revenues and profitability. If we do not meet the projected revenues and profitability used in the valuation calculations then the intangible assets could be impaired. In determining the value of customer relationships, we reviewed historical customer attrition rates which were determined to be approximately 5% to 12% per year. Most of our customers tend to be long-term customers with very little turnover. While we do not typically have long-term contracts with customers, we have established long-term relationships with customers which make it difficult for competitors to displace us. Additionally, we assessed historical revenue growth within our industry and customers’ industries in determining the value of customer relationships. The value of our customer relationships intangible asset could become impaired if future results differ significantly from any of the underlying assumptions. This could include a higher customer attrition rate or a change in industry trends such as the use of long-term contracts which we may not be able to obtain successfully. Customer relationships and product technology and patents are considered finite-lived assets, with estimated lives ranging from 8 years to 17 years. The estimated lives were determined by calculating the number of years necessary to obtain 95% of the value of the discounted cash flows of the respective intangible asset.

 

Goodwill and trade names and trademarks are considered indefinite lived assets. Our trade names and trademarks identify us and differentiate us from competitors, and therefore competition does not limit the useful life of these assets. Additionally, we believe that our trade names and trademarks will continue to generate product sales for an indefinite period.

 

Accounting standards require that an annual goodwill impairment assessment be conducted at the reporting unit level using either a quantitative or qualitative approach. The Company has determined that its Couplings, Clutches, and Brakes (CCB) operating segment is comprised of two reporting units which are the Couplings reporting unit and the Heavy Duty and Overrunning Clutches and Brakes reporting unit. The Company has determined that its Gearing operating segment is comprised of two reporting units which are the Domestic Gearing reporting unit and the Bauer Gearing reporting unit. The Company has also determined that the Electromagnetic, Clutches and Brakes (ECB) operating segment comprises a single reporting unit.

 

As part of the annual goodwill impairment assessment we performed a quantitative assessment and estimated the fair value of each of our five reporting units using an income approach. We forecasted future cash flows by reporting unit for each of the next five years and applied a long term growth rate to the final year of forecasted cash flows. The cash flows were then discounted using our estimated discount rate. The forecasts of revenue and profitability growth for use in the long-range plan and the discount rate were the key assumptions in our goodwill fair value analysis.

 

As of December 31, 2016, each of our reporting units had estimated fair values that were substantially in excess of the carrying value.

 

Management believes the preparation of revenue and profitability growth rates for use in the long-range plan and the discount rate requires significant use of judgment. If any of our reporting units do not meet our forecasted revenue and/or profitability estimates, we could be required to perform an interim goodwill impairment analysis in future periods. In addition, if our discount rate increases, we could be required to perform an interim goodwill impairment analysis. Given the substantial excess fair value, we believe that a significant change in key valuation assumptions, including a decrease in revenues or profitability, or an increase in the discount rate, would not result in an indication of impairment.

 

Based on the above procedures, we did not identify any reporting unit that would be required to perform a step 2 goodwill impairment analysis as of December 31, 2016.

 

For our indefinite lived intangible assets, mainly trademarks, we estimate the fair value by first estimating the total revenue attributable to the trademarks. Second, we estimate an appropriate royalty rate using the return on assets method by estimating the required financial return on our assets, excluding trademarks, less the overall return generated by our total asset base. The return as a percentage of revenue provides an indication of our royalty rate. We compared the estimated fair value of the trademarks and did not identify any impairments except for the TB Woods trademark. We recorded an impairment of the carrying value of the TB Woods trademark of $6.6 million primarily due to the loss of revenues as a result of the decline in the Oil and Gas end market.

 

Long-lived assets, including definite-lived intangible assets are reviewed for impairment when events or circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of a long lived asset may not be recovered. Long-lived assets are considered to be impaired if the carrying amount of the asset exceeds the undiscounted future cash flows expected to be generated by the asset over its remaining useful life. If an asset is considered to be impaired, the impairment is measured by the amount by which the carrying amount of the asset exceeds its fair value, and is charged to results of operations at that time.

 

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During the fourth quarter of 2016, a trademark impairment was identified and recorded. This indicated that there could be an impairment of long lived assets at that reporting unit. We assessed the other long lived assets of TB Woods for impairment and did not identify any indications of impairment.

Recent Accounting Standards

In October 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") 2016-16, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Intra-Entity Transfers of Assets Other Than Inventory (“ASU 2016-16”). This ASU requires entities to recognize the income tax consequences of many intercompany asset transfers at the transaction date. The seller and buyer will immediately recognize the current and deferred income tax consequences of an intercompany transfer of an asset other than inventory. The tax consequences were previously deferred until the asset is sold to a third party or recovered through use. This guidance will be effective for us on January 1, 2018. We are currently evaluating this guidance and the impact it will have on our Consolidated Financial Statements.

 

In August 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") 2016-15, Statement of Cash Flows (Topic 230): Classification of certain cash receipts and cash payments (a consensus of the emerging issues task force) (“ASU 2016-15”). This ASU addresses the following eight specific cash flow issues: Debt prepayment or debt extinguishment costs; settlement of zero-coupon debt instruments or other debt instruments with coupon interest rates that are insignificant in relation to the effective interest rate of the borrowing; contingent consideration payments made after a business combination; proceeds from the settlement of insurance claims; proceeds from the settlement of corporate-owned life insurance policies (including bank-owned life insurance policies); distributions received from equity method investees; beneficial interests in securitization transactions; and separately identifiable cash flows and application of the predominance principle. This guidance will be effective for the Company on January 1, 2018. We do not expect that the impact of the adoption of this guidance will have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.

In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-09, Compensation - Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting (“ASU 2016-09”). The updated guidance revises aspects of stock-based compensation guidance which include income tax consequences, classification of awards as equity or liabilities, and classification on the statement of cash flows. The new standard is effective for the Company January 1, 2017. We do not expect the impact of adopting this new accounting guidance will be material to our consolidated financial statements.

In February 2015, the FASB issued ASU 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842) (“ASU 2016-02”). The ASU requires management to recognize lease assets and lease liabilities by lessees for all operating leases. The ASU is effective for periods ending on December 15, 2018 and interim periods therein on a modified retrospective basis. We are currently evaluating the impact this guidance will have on our financial statements, but expect that we will record a material lease obligation upon the adoption of this standard.

In July 2015, the FASB issued ASU 2015-11, Simplifying the Measurement of Inventory (“ASU 2015-11”), which requires most entities to measure most inventories at the lower of cost or net realizable value (“NRV”). This simplifies the evaluation from the current method of lower of cost or market, where market is based on one of three measures (i.e. replacement cost, net realizable value, or net realizable value less a normal profit margin). The ASU does not apply to inventories measured under the last-in, first-out method or the retail inventory method, and defines NRV as the “estimated selling price in the ordinary course of business, less reasonably predictable costs of completion, disposal, and transportation.” The ASU is effective on a prospective basis for the Company beginning on January 1, 2017, with early adoption permitted. This guidance is not expected to have a significant impact on our financial condition, results of operations or presentation of our financial statements.

In May 2014, the FASB issued ASU No. 2014-09 Revenue from Contracts with Customers (“ASU 2014-09”). ASU 2014-09 provides a single principles-based, five-step model to be applied to all contracts with customers. The five steps are to (i) identify the contracts with the customer, (ii) identify the performance obligations in the contact, (iii) determine the transaction price, (iv) allocate the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract and (v) recognize revenue when each performance obligation is satisfied. Revenue will be recognized when promised goods or services are transferred to the customer in an amount that reflects the consideration expected in exchange for those goods or services. In July 2015, the FASB agreed to delay the effective date of ASU 2014-09 for one year and to permit early adoption by entities as of the original effective dates. Considering the one year deferral, ASU 2014-09 will be effective for the Company beginning on January 1, 2018 and the standard allows for either full retrospective adoption or modified retrospective adoption. The Company is continuing to evaluate the impact that the adoption of this guidance will have on our financial condition, results of operations and the presentation of our financial statements, but currently does not expect the adoption to be material to our consolidated financial statements.

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Segment Performance.

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