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$2.00/JANUARY 7 - 13, 2013
Automakers get fuel rule help from local steel
Mergers boost SS&G profile in Windy City Chicago now firm’s second-largest market
ArcelorMittal’s lighter product matches stringent efficiency law
By MICHELLE PARK mpark@crain.com
Before October 2010, SS&G Inc. employed no one in Chicago. Following SS&G’s third Chicagoarea merger in as many years, the Windy City now is the second-largest market for the Solon-based certified public accounting and business advisory firm. A Jan. 1 deal with Silver, Lerner, Schwartz & Fertel — known by its initials, SLSF — added 45 people, doubling SS&G’s Chicago staff to nearly 90 and bringing its total employee count to more than 500. The presence of that many employees in the Chicago market Shamis makes SS&G about the 20th-largest accounting firm there, when “two and a half years ago, we didn’t exist in Chicago,” said Gary S. Shamis, SS&G’s managing director. The deal is a true merger, executives of both firms said. The shareholders of SLSF have exchanged their stock for stock in SS&G. Michael L. Perlman, who began his career with SLSF in 1981, now is managing director of SS&G’s Chicagoarea operations. The firm’s offices there include what had been SLSF’s Skokie office, another suburban office in Des Plaines and a downtown Chicago location. All three locations were added to SS&G through mergers, the first of which closed in October 2010, and the second of which closed Jan. 1, 2011. SLSF executives had been determined to stay solo, Mr. Perlman said. However, on the advice of an outside consultant and tasked with growing his firm, Mr. Perlman started exploring potential merger opportunities. Talks between SS&G and SLSF
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By DAN SHINGLER dshingler@crain.com
MARC GOLUB PHOTOS
Cleveland Whiskey’s Tom Lix
A DRINK CLEVELAND CAN CALL ITS OWN Local entrepreneur uses ‘radically different’ method of aging whiskey that big-name restaurateurs are endorsing By KATHY AMES CARR clbfreelancer.com
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om Lix is just about ready to toast the commercial distribution of a premium bourbon he has produced using technology that challenges centuries-old distilling techniques. Using a carefully controlled balance of pressure, time and other variables, Mr. Lix’s patent-pending method of aging whiskey compresses production of the spirit from about 10 years into a couple of days. “We use a radically different pressure-aging process that creates a deeper, bolder taste,” he said. Cleveland Whiskey is closing in on entering the marketplace after recently receiving labeling approval from the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau — one of its final procedural requirements before the black bourbon can be stocked on the shelves of bars, restaurants and retailers in Greater Cleveland and Ohio. Mr. Lix, Cleveland Whiskey’s founder and CEO, eventually plans
Steelmaker ArcelorMittal and United Steelworkers Local 979 both have high hopes for 2013, thanks to a new type of steel that they’ll be producing specifically for the nation’s automakers. “I’m feeling pretty good,” said Mark Granakis, president of Local “If they can 979, in discussing the new prodmake someuct that will be made at the plant thing lighter manned by his union members and stronger on Cleveland’s near West Side. It isn’t the continued rebound ... that’s a of the automotive industry that great thing has Mr. Granakis and the company for Cleveso optimistic, though they say land.” that’s a huge plus as well. It’s because automakers soon will – Ed Gonzales, need to lighten their vehicles in owner, Ferragon order to meet new, higher federal Corp. Corporate Average Fuel Economy INSIDE: Plastics, standards, commonly referred to too, can play a part as CAFE standards. in reducing vehicle Thanks to recent investments weight. Page 5 in its Cleveland Works, ArcelorMittal says it will be able to make a new type of steel in the first quarter of 2013. The metal will be lighter and stronger than the steel the plant currently makes and which automakers stamp into car hoods, doors and other large stamped pieces. It also will be lighter and stronger than competitors’ products, according to the company. See STEEL Page 18
INSIDE: OUTLOOK 2013 Beyond the Election to expand into national and international markets. “This is a $20 billion worldwide market,” said Mr. Lix, who also is director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at Lake Erie College. “China, India, Russia are importing more whiskey, and as a country we have an obligation to manufacture products that people want.”
Crain’s reporters forecast what to expect in seven sectors vital to Northeast Ohio — real estate, health care, higher education, technology, manufacturing, small business and finance — and predict how political uncertainty may play a role. PAGES 11-15
See WHISKEY Page 7
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ALSO INSIDE
A Painesville company that once manufactured only racing trailers has diversified and recovered from the recession ■ Page 3 PLUS: OFFICE/INDUSTRIAL REAL ESTATE VACANCIES
Entire contents © 2013 by Crain Communications Inc. Vol. 34, No. 1