John Wolz

2007 was the year of the $100 million + acquisitions in the fastener industry, Richard Hagan commented upon releasing his Top Ten Fastener Deals of 2007.

The $856 million JLL Partners Inc. acquisition of McKechnie Aerospace carried the biggest price tag. Second was the $670 million acquisition of Excel Mining Systems LLC by Orica Ltd. At $492 million the Doncasters Group Ltd. acquisition of FastenTech Inc. was third – just ahead of the $490 million acquisition of Fabory Group by HgCapital.

“Never before in the 11 years we have compiled our Top Ten Fastener Deals of the Year have there been so many $100 million plus transactions completed,” Hagan reflected. Eight of the 10 largest fastener industry transactions completed during 2007 had a value in excess of $100 million.

Hagan’s Top Ten Fastener Deals of the Year has been compiled since 1997. Hagan is the president of the NY-based Pinnacle Capital Corporation, which specializes in handling fastener company mergers and acquisitions and investment banking services.

Half of the Top Ten acquirers in 2007 were private equity firms.
“Private equity buyers have been quite active in the fastener industry for the past few years and we feel this bodes very well for continued strong deal activity within the industry over the next several years, since most of these buyers endorse a buy-and-build philosophy for their portfolio companies,” Hagan noted.

2007 – Hagan’s Top Ten Deals of the Year (Arranged in chronological order)

Precision Castparts Corp. acquired Cherry Aerospace LLC from Acument Global Technologies Inc.

GFI Energy Ventures LLC purchased a majority equity interest in Elgin National Industries Inc.

JLL Partners Inc. purchased McKechnie Aerospace from Melrose PLC.

Doncasters Group Limited purchased FastenTech Inc. from Citicorp Venture Capital Ltd

EQT Partners AB purchased PSM Internationalfrom Melrose PLC.

Gilde Buyout Partners purchased Koninklijke Nedschroef Holding N.V.

Simpson Manufacturing Co. Inc. purchased Swan Secure Products Inc.

HgCapital purchased The Fabory Group from AAC Capital Partners.

Orica Limited purchased Excel Mining Systems LLC from Snow Phipps Group LLC.

A Taiwanese consortium led by Ta Chen International Inc. acquired Brighton-Best Socket Screw Mfg. Inc. from founder Perry Rosenstein.

Additional analysis and details of the transactions will be featured in an article in the annual FIN Review of Fastener Stocks to be published during May 2008.
For additional information on the Top Ten transactions or specialized investment banking services provided by New York-based Pinnacle Capital Corporation, contact president Richard Hagan. Tel: 212 267-8200 E-mail: rphagan@pinnaclecapitalcorp.com �2008 FastenerNews.com