Busche Performance Group is a company maturing. Two decades ago, the company began in a pole barn on family farm acreage in Albion, Ind. Now the automotive casting and machining supplier is based in Southfield and ramping up to hit $550 million in revenue in 2021.
The company's metamorphosis has been a slow build from when Nick Busche, 56, founded the company in 1997. Through several small acquisitions, the company was able to cement itself as a solid lower-tier solution for other regional suppliers in the automotive sector. Now it's hired a new top executive, one who is also maturing into the role.
Joseph Perkins, 50, was hired as CEO in August — his first shot at the top role in a C-suite — after years of moving up the ranks, serving as CFO for Auburn Hills-based Key Safety Systems during its quest to acquire bankrupt Japanese airbag supplier Takata Corp. out of bankruptcy. Key Safety, now called Joyson Safety Systems, closed the $1.6 billion deal in April, more than doubling the size of the supplier. Prior to joining Key Safety in 2016, Perkins was the CFO of steering system supplier Nexteer Automotive for three years.
"Look, I always wanted to be CEO, but once the Takata deal was done, the board talked to me about becoming CEO but we all agreed that taking over a $7.5 billion company wasn't the best role to get your CEO legs," Perkins said. "Key Safety was the little engine that could and this is the same thing all over again. This is an opportunity to build this company up to its true potential."
As Perkins was gathering the requisite work experience to warrant the top position, Busche was also evolving. Under its founder, the company continued to grow as competitors struggled.
Southfield-based Chassix Inc. crumbled under a significant debt load and poor plant performance under former owners Platinum Equity, the private entity company of Detroit Pistons' owner Tom Gores. In March 2015, it filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy with $556.7 million in total debt and $34.3 million in assets after missing bond payments, but it was able to reorganize and emerge in July of that year. But not before automakers resourced several contracts, some going to Busche.
At that time, Busche was growing thanks to a cash infusion from former Ford Motor Co. executive Michael Dingman's investment firm Shipston Group Ltd. in 2014. The new owners put the company in overdrive, including establishing a new facility in Indiana and big new contracts from Honda and Fiat Chrysler.
But fast growth plagued the supplier, Perkins said. The management team was inexperienced in the world of top-tiered suppliers and its growing list of acquisitions and locations became difficult to manage.
Perkins' first order of business was to lead a $150 million recapitalization that left Busche with a new majority owner, Texas-based investment firm EF Capital Management, and an influx of cash.
He also assembled a new management team.