A manufacturing holding company
We buy manufacturing companies and run them
Rotherson acquires established metal processing businesses in southeastern Pennsylvania and operates them for the long term. Not a fund, not a flip. We keep the name on the building, keep the crew, and put capital and systems behind what already works.
What we do
Buy good shops. Give them what they've been missing.
Most small manufacturers don't have a growth problem. They have a capital problem, a systems problem, or a succession problem — and a founder who has spent thirty years doing everything himself.
Rotherson buys those businesses and stays. We bring capital for equipment, systems that scale, and operators who have run a shop floor. What we don't bring is a plan to gut the place, move the work, or put the founder's name in a box.
Our model
Acquire · Elevate · Integrate
Acquire with intent
We look for legacy manufacturers with a real reputation and room to grow. We value people, process, and performance — not just the multiple.
Elevate with expertise
Companies gain access to shared capital, equipment, technology, and operating playbooks that lift efficiency, quality, and throughput.
Integrate for strength
We align resources, talent, and market access across the group, so each company can quote work it could not have taken on alone.
Our companies
Two shops, one platform
Chantelau, Inc.
Precision saw cutting and value-added metal processing. Telford, PA. Founded 1987.
AM Industries, Inc.
Precision metal spacers, custom-length tubing, and precision cutting. Telford, PA.
Why owners sell to us
What we do differently
We operate, we don't spectate
Our team is involved in strategy and execution after the deal closes, not just at the board meeting.
Manufacturing only
We buy metal processing and industrial businesses. It's the only sector we know and the only one we buy in.
The name stays
Chantelau is still Chantelau. Customers keep their contacts, their part numbers, and their supplier of record.
Aligned from day one
We invest alongside founders and management, so the upside is shared rather than extracted.
Leadership
Jake Rothenberger
Founder & CEO
Jake leads Rotherson's work building a group of modern industrial companies that keep legacy craftsmanship intact while bringing in the technology and systems that let a small shop compete for bigger work.
Next
Own a shop you're ready to hand off?
If you own a metal processing or manufacturing business in the region and you're starting to think about what comes next, we'd like to talk. No broker, no process, no obligation.