Mark Sanchez, Crain’s Grand Rapids Business Journalist Profile

Articles

Remote work boom drives furniture remanufacturer’s $1.2M expansion

1 week ago | crainsgrandrapids.com | Advanced Manufacturing Expo |Mark Sanchez

Presented By Advanced Manufacturing Expo Experience AME 2025 Celebrate a decade of innovation with top exhibitors, robotics, and expert insights.
M&A Awards 2025: Jeff Johnson’s 3 decades in M&A leans on collaborative leadership

1 week ago | crainsgrandrapids.com | Mark Sanchez

DEALMAKER OF THE YEAR: INVESTORThe deal to sell Mopec Group to another private equity firm in 2024 came with a few curve balls. The buyer, Chicago-based Waud Capital Partners, wanted to do deeper due diligence on Mopec, a pathology and mortuary equipment company based in Madison Heights in suburban Detroit, looking into issues such as total available market, tax strategies and accounting processes.
M&A Awards 2025: Macatawa Bank merger brings new competitor to West Michigan market

1 week ago | crainsgrandrapids.com | Mark Sanchez

The $510.3 million deal for Macatawa Bank Corp. introduced a new competitor to the West Michigan marketplace in Wintrust Financial Corp. The transaction that closed Aug. 1, 2024 gave Rosemont, Ill.-based Wintrust Financial a solid position in the three counties — Ottawa, Kent and Allegan — where Macatawa Bank has 26 offices. Wintrust Financial intends to use that foundation to build a broader presence in Michigan.
M&A Awards 2025: Indiana deal better positioned Priority Health in border markets

1 week ago | crainsgrandrapids.com | Mark Sanchez

Acquiring an Indiana health plan in 2024 better positioned Priority Health in markets along the state border. The deal for Fort Wayne-based Physicians Health Plan of Northern Indiana Inc. gave Priority Health a greater ability to market health policies across state lines, particularly to companies with facilities in one state and employees who reside in another. “We saw this as more than just a growth opportunity.
M&A Awards 2025: John Kerschen looks back on nearly 3 decades of dealmaking

1 week ago | crainsgrandrapids.com | Advanced Manufacturing Expo |Mark Sanchez

Even after nearly three decades in the business, John Kerschen still gets a kick out of putting deals together. Over his career, he’s worked on more than 200 transactions with a combined value of more than $2 billion. Along the way, he formed a venture capital fund and two mezzanine funds, the latest of which recently raised $111 million. The work on the funds occupies most of his time today.
Med device firm secures top West Michigan VC deal with $40M raise in Q1

1 week ago | crainsgrandrapids.com | Mark Sanchez

A Grand Rapids-based company developing an innovative orthopedic shoulder implant system received the largest venture capital investment among firms in West Michigan in the first quarter of 2025, and the second-largest statewide. Shoulder Innovations Inc. raised $40 million in a Series E capital round that closed in March and accounted for one-quarter of the venture capital invested in Michigan-based companies in the first three months of the year.
All Tech Engineering sells to PE-backed Jennmar to expand automation

2 weeks ago | crainsgrandrapids.com | Advanced Manufacturing Expo |Mark Sanchez

A private equity-backed Pennsylvania company has acquired the assets of All Tech Engineering, a Wyoming-based company that designs, builds, and services automation systems. Through the transaction, Pittsburgh-based Jennmar Corp. formed an automation division and now operates All Tech Engineering, or ATE, as Jennmar Automation LLC, a corporate entity registered with the state Feb. 10. Jennmar was a client of All Tech Engineering for several years.
Furniture supplier ramps up production in Grand Haven as onshoring accelerates

2 weeks ago | crainsgrandrapids.com | Mark Sanchez

Office furniture supplier Kaidi LLC originally planned to build a new facility in Holland to produce components for height-adjustable office desks. Then the pandemic hit five years ago and “everything got put on hold,” said Dave Olson, operations manager at Kaidi, which now plans to begin producing components at a former plastics molding plant in Grand Haven.
Mary Free Bed teams with Virginia health system for with $75M rehab tower

2 weeks ago | crainsgrandrapids.com | Mark Sanchez

Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital’s footprint and brand will grow further outside of Michigan with a $75 million inpatient tower that it is partnering with a Virginia health system to develop. Under a joint venture formed a little more than a year ago with Mary Free Bed, Valley Health broke ground Tuesday on the 50-bed Rehabilitation Tower at Winchester Medical Center in Winchester, Va.The project is the latest and largest that Mary Free Bed has worked on with a partnering health system.
Michigan hospitals clash with insurers over out-of-control costs

2 weeks ago | crainsgrandrapids.com | Dustin Walsh |Mark Sanchez

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is negotiating reimbursement contracts with Michigan’s largest health care systems — Henry Ford Health, Corewell Health and Michigan Medicine. The Detroit-based insurer and resounding leader with a 67% market share in the state is coming off a hefty loss of $1.03 billion last year and its CEO, Tricia Keith, is publicly calling upon hospitals to cut costs as the industry accelerates toward financial unsustainability.