User:Jenngct/sandbox

= Steel Partners =

General Overview
Stock Ticker: SPLP (NYSE)

Date Founded: February 1990,

Founder: Warren Lichtenstein

Company Type: Public

Industries: Diversified Industrial, Energy, Finance, and Sports

Headquarters: New York, New York

Number of Locations: 70

Areas Served: Worldwide

Key People: Warren Lichtenstein (Executive Chairman and Founder), Jack Howard (President)

Website: https://www.steelpartners.com

Background
Steel Partners Holdings L.P. was founded in February 1990 as a private investment firm by Warren Lichtenstein. With $600,000 USD and two people, Steel Partners acquired Kinark - a publicly-traded company consisting of six hot dip steel galvanizing plants, two hotels, a packaging division, and a terminaling facility. By focusing on the galvanizing business, Steel Partners tax-efficiently sold Kinark's remaining businesses. In 1992, Steel Partners sold its remaining shares in Kinark for a profit and began acquiring SL Industries.

In 2008, Steel Partners restructured its business a global diversified holding company that operates through subsidiaries and associated companies. Focusing on long-term investments, Steel Partners implements operational and restructuring services through Steel Partners Operational Excellence Programs, the Steel Partners Purchasing Council, and Steel Partners Corporate Services.

In 2012, Steel Partners became a publicly-traded company on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker SPLP. Steel Partners is known for its global portfolio of eighteen operating companies in the energy, financial, diversified industrial, and sports industries. As of 2019, Steel Partners has 100% ownership of Handy&Harman, API, Steel Energy Services, Steel Sports, and WebBank. Steel Partners also directly invests but does not hold ownership, in four companies.

Steel Partners’ strategy is to invest in good companies with simple business models at fair prices. Once a company is acquired, the Steel Business System implements programs to ensure operational excellence, profitability, continuous improvements in a company’s culture, and increased value for shareholders. Steel Partners also introduces its core principles—safety, teamwork, respect, integrity, and commitment—to the operating companies. These principles enable companies to implement improved policies for capital allocation and corporate development.

The Steel Partners Business Model ensures continued optimal performance through Steel Partners Operational Excellence Programs: LEAN Manufacturing, Design for Six Sigma, and Strategy Development to reduce and eliminate waste.

Steel Partners also implements performance programs such as SteelGrow, kaizen events, and LEAN Leadership. SteelGrow—with the motto “recruit, retain, reward”—fosters talent at Steel Partners by sharing best practices, teaching leadership strategies, supporting employees, and recruiting interns and co-ops. Kaizen events apply Steel Partners’ core principles in developing and maintaining business strategies. Similarly, LEAN Leadership ensures day-to-day efficiency by setting meaningful goals and implementing standard business practices.

Company Timeline
1990 Firm is Founded

1992 Made Initial Investment in SL Industries

1993 Steel Partners II Founded by Warren Lichtenstein and Jack Howard

1996 Made Initial Investment in WebBank

1997 Made Initial Investment in Handy&Harman

1997 Made Initial Investment in API Group

2000 Made Initial Investment in Aerojet Rocketdyne

2001 Made Initial Investment in JPS Composite Materials

2001 Steel Partners Foundation is Founded

2002 Steel Partners Launched in Japan (Steel Partners Japan Strategic Fund L.P.)

2002 Made Initial Investment in DGT Holdings Company

2002 Made Initial Investment in CoSine Communications

2006 Steel Partners Launched in China (Steel Partners China Access I L.P.)

2007 Made Initial Investment in Steel Excel

2009 Steel Partners Holdings L.P. (SPLP) Created

2011 SPH Services

2012 SPLP Listed on the New York Stock Exchange

2012 Made Initial Investment in ModusLink

2015 Fully Acquired API Group

2017 Fully Acquired Steel Excel and Handy & Harman

Corporate Logo
The Steel Partners logo has been modified since its creation in 1990. The first logo was a blue box surrounding the company’s name with bolts in each corner.

Steel Partners has since implemented two new logos with sleeker and simpler designs. In one, the company’s name is written in Steel Blue or Steel Black text. In another, its initials “SP” are written above the company’s full name.

Headquarters and Office Locations
Steel Partners is headquartered in New York, New York. The company holds a total of 70 locations in 11 countries with over 5,300 employees. These numbers do not include Steel Partners’ investments in Steel Connect or Aerojet Rocketdyne.

Corporate Culture
Steel Partners prioritizes safety, teamwork, respect, integrity, and commitment; these core principles are applied to all facets of the company. Steel Partners believes knowledge is power, so the company provides development programs to enable lifelong learning, especially through the development of leadership skills.

Employees are empowered, held accountable, supported, and rewarded for their performance. Steel Partners fosters a growth mindset, so employees are driven to succeed and produce results. Steel Partners also invests in employee wellness with the SteelWell program through health, financial, and community support.

"Mission" for Investments
Steel Partners adds long-term value to companies with simple business structures and built-in margins of safety by controlling costs, empowering employees, and transferring knowledge of best practices. Ultimately, Steel Partners simplifies and streamlines corporate structures by implementing operational and strategic programs for legal, corporate, and supply chain services.

As of 2019, Steel Partners’ acquisition interests are companies with a high return on invested capital and sustainable competitive advantages.

Board of Directors
Warren Lichtenstein, Executive Chairman Jack Howard, President Eric P. Karros, Board Member James Benenson III, Board Member John P. McNiff, Board Member Joseph L. Mullen, Board Member Lon Rosen, Board Member General Richard I. Neal, Board Member Rory Tahari, Board Member

Senior Leadership
Warren Lichtenstein, Executive Chairman Jack Howard, President William Fejes, Chief Operating Officer Douglas Woodworth, Chief Financial Officer

The Steel Partners Foundation
The Steel Partners Foundation was founded in 2001 by Warren Lichtenstein to create a positive impact and support philanthropic causes that benefit children, education, sports, and community.

In 2011, Lichtenstein founded Steel Sports to transform youth sports in America by promoting good sportsmanship and supporting players’ personal growth. The Positive Coaching Alliance, a non-profit with the mission to develop “Better Athletes, Better People”, has received Steel Partners Foundation grants for providing positive youth sports experiences to youth and high school students.

The Steel Partners Foundation raises awareness for parental alienation by co-hosting Think Tanks with Stand Up For Gus, an advocacy group that helps alienated parents maintain meaningful relationships with their children. The Steel Partners Foundation also raises awareness for children with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The Steel Partners Foundation supports similar organizations, such as Our Kids First, and Lichtenstein helped produced the film “Sister” in 2014 to give insight into children’s experiences living with ADHD.

To support local communities, the Steel Partners Foundation donates to the Chabad Jewish Community Center in Aspen Valley, Colorado to help serve members’ spiritual and physical needs. The Foundation also helped fund the Aspen Art Museum’s 2014 building designed by Shigeru Ban for contemporary art.

The Steel Partners Foundation has supported the pursuit of higher education through donations to Tulane University and the University of Pennsylvania. The foundation donated $1 million USD to Tulane University after 70% of the campus was flooded by Hurricane Katrina. These donations helped rebuild the school’s campus, and the Steel Partners Challenge continues to match donations to the university. The Steel Partners Foundation also donated $1 million USD to the University of Pennsylvania, Lichtenstein’s graduate alma mater, to provide 19 scholarships for students in the College of Arts and Sciences.

SteelWell
SteelWell maximizes and invests in employees’ well-being by implementing programs regarding fitness and nutrition, mental well-being, healthcare, and community support. Respectively, these initiatives improve physical health, stress management, access to affordable care, and where people live and work.

SteelWell introduced SMARTDOLLAR to reduce employees’ financial stress and teach budgeting strategies. Through SMARTDOLLAR, employees eliminated their debt and increased personal savings. To improve physical wellness, 1100 Steel Partners employees took part in the Step Challenge. Steel Partners also responded to the opioid crisis with an Opioid Misuse campaign and by taking part in the DEA National Drug Take Back Day on October 27, 2018. Steel Partners plans to have Narcan onsite at its companies by the end of Q3 in 2019. Given the success of prior incentives, Steel Partners has doubled its Wellness Incentives for 2019.