Maine golf tee, Lincoln Log maker’s parent company changes hands

By Darren Fishell
BDN Staff

PORTLAND — A New York-based investment firm has acquired Pride Manufacturing, which has a sawmill in Burnham that makes it the largest producer of golf tees in the country.

The New York-based Centre Partners announced last week it purchased Pride, which is based in Tennessee, for an undisclosed price. The company previously was held by another private equity investment fund controlled by Lindsay Goldberg LLC.

The Burnham manufacturing plant had 130 employees last year and was expanding shifts after gaining a contract to make Lincoln Logs last fall. In May, Pride CEO Joe Zeller said the company this year added second shifts Monday through Thursday and Friday through Sunday shifts.

Centre Partners, a firm focused on companies in the middle of their markets, said it has plans to grow Pride “through product innovation and additional acquisitions.”

The company makes about 300 million wooden golf tees each year in Burnham and has lines of golf cleats and other golf accessories.

Pride will become a part of Centre Partners portfolio company Medalist Corp. and will be led by the current executives from both companies.

“Our team at Pride is very excited to join Medalist, which will accelerate the growth of our business and create a sporting goods platform that is greater than the sum of its parts,” Zeller said in a news release.

In May, Pride secured a new $30 million credit line it said would support new growth initiatives and investments.

Zeller told the Bangor Daily News at the time that he could not discuss what specific growth initiatives that new credit line would support.