Less than a year after closing on the 817 billion yen ($5.84 billion) purchase of Japan’s Hitachi Metals Ltd., Bain Capital LLC is already hard at work pruning the platform, The Deal has learned.

The private equity and credit giant is planning to carve out one of the U.S. subsidiaries of Hitachi Metals, now known as Proterial Ltd., three sources with knowledge of the discussions said. The auction has not kicked off and is in the information gathering and preparation phase, the sources said.

Bain has retained KeyBanc Capital Markets to run an auction process for the Proterial unit that makes stainless steel tubing and cast iron pipe fittings, Ward Manufacturing LLC, two of the sources said. The Blossburg, Pa.-based business generates around $35 million in Ebitda, one of the sources estimated, adding that it has not grown much over the past several years.

To its credit, Ward has maintained steady profits, though, partly because the company has been able to pass on price increases effectively to customers throughout the recent stint of rapid raw materials cost inflation, sources explained.

Hitachi acquired Ward in 1990, and the business acquired Wisconsin Nipple & Fitting Corp. in 2006 to expand into welded, seamless, brass and stainless steel pipe nipples.

Ward likely has seen underinvestment in recent years as part of the larger Proterial group of businesses, leading to the decision to attempt to sell it to a competitor or financial sponsor with more resources to grow the business amid an on-shoring wave that has drummed up interest in North American manufacturing businesses of late, The Deal’s sources speculated.

Bain is expected to do further asset paring within the Proterial portfolio, including in the U.S., the people added, after leading a consortium that ultimately paid an amount equal to $7.5 billion for Hitachi Metals. Hitachi Metals America has accumulated at least a dozen U.S. subsidiaries through a decades-long expansion.

Bain and its partners agreed in April 2021 to buy the 53% stake in Hitachi Metals held by Japanese conglomerate Hitachi Ltd. along with minority shareholders’ 47%.

Chinese regulators reportedly held up the deal until September, after which Bain announced it had closed the transaction in October.

Bain declined to comment. A KeyBanc official did not respond to requests for comment on the Ward sale process.