The 100-Year-Old Company That’s on a $10 Billion Shopping Spree

Parker-Hannifin Corp., maker of motion-control technology for planes and factories, isn’t a household name. But at $20 billion, its market value is bigger than that of Nordstrom, Harley-Davidson, and TripAdvisor combined. Founded in 1917 in Cleveland, it waited almost a century before doing a deal bigger than $500 million. But in the almost five years that Thomas Williams has been chief executive officer, Parker has announced not one but three large takeovers, each over $1 billion.

First came the $4.3 billion purchase of filtration company Clarcor Inc. in 2017. This April, Parker announced the $3.7 billion acquisition of adhesives and coatings maker Lord Corp. Come July, Parker was back in the M&A news with the $1.7 billion purchase of Exotic Metals Forming Co., which makes high-temperature engine components and exhaust management systems for aircraft including Boeing Co.’s 737 Max.