MBC Ventures, Inc.: An ESOP with a Union Partner

Abstract

MBC Ventures, Inc. (MBC), known as the Maryland Brush Company until a name change in 2011, is a 100 percent employee-owned United Steelworker employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) established in 1990. Throughout its recent history, the 161-year-old business has steadily increased its stock value. However, the future is less certain today as the firm’s traditional brush business has matured, and its recent efforts at diversification have yet to be realized. The firm has proven to be quite resilient over the years having averted closure after being sold by PPG Industries in 1990. In an unusual partnership, the United Steelworkers of America union helped the firm’s new owner-managers convert to an ESOP as part of a reorganization. This effort saved jobs and the company. Since that time, the firm’s employees have proven to be its most valuable asset and a key source of its competitive advantage.