Global Fastener News

Sam Zell

June 28, 2002 FIN – The newest name in fastener stocks used to hang around a fastener household in the Chicago area as a teenager.

Billionaire Sam Zell was a Highland Park High School buddy of Ron Sackheim, now the president of fastener importer XL Screw Corporation.

Anixter International Inc. has a pending deal to acquire fastener distributor Pentacon Inc. Zell is chairman of Anixter and owns 14% of the stock.

After lunch at school Sackheim and Zell played milk carton football, Sackheim recalled.

Zell came over to Norman & Pauline Sackheim’s house to play bridge with Ron and classmates. At the time Norman Sackheim owned Heads & Threads.

“I grew up with him,” Ron Sackheim recalled. “We played intramural sports. We played a lot of cards – bridge.”

After graduating from high school in 1959, Zell went off to the University of Michigan for bachelors and law degrees. Sackheim went to Miami of Ohio for undergraduate and Northwestern for an MBA. They’ve seen each other since at their high school class reunions.

Zell, chairman of 14 public companies, is a celebrity in Chicago for his business success and for his lifestyle. He drives one of his numerous motorcycles to work, where the entire office may dress casually in blue jeans. His “Zell’s Angels” make annual motorcycle trips to exotic destinations around the world.

Zell began his business career buying apartment buildings and soon developed a knack for spotting turnaround opportunities.

He earned the nickname “grave dancer” for stepping in and buying businesses on the edge of failure. He also has been called a “vulture.” Among Zell’s holdings are more than 75 million sq ft of office space, Chart House Restaurants, the Delta Queen Steamboat Co., shopping centers and 192,000 apartments in 34 states.

Sackheim noted that Zell mostly bought real estate, but “he’d buy anything if the price is right.” Sackheim said he is certain that Zell wouldn’t have bought Pentacon if he didn’t get a good price.

Indeed Pentacon had been delisted by the New York Stock Exchange and was teetering in debt and negotiating with lenders when Zell struck the deal to acquire the fastener distributorship in May 2002. The acquisition is expected to close during the third quarter of 2002. ©2002/2012 Fastener Industry News

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