John Wolz

Freestone Acquires Dan-Loc
Freestone Partners LLC acquired Dan-Loc Bolt & Gasket, Inc. from The Flexitallic Group Inc.
Freestone, in conjunction with First Capital Group, acquired Houston-based Dan-Loc in an asset purchase. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Dan-Loc Bolt & Gasket is a 40-year-old manufacturer of fasteners and high-pressure metal gaskets used by the energy industry.
Harry Fendrich is the new CEO of Dan-Loc. Fendrich has over 20 years of oilfield manufacturing and service experience, including as CEO of Homco International, an oilfield services and manufacturing subsidiary of W.R. Grace & Co.
�We see a number of avenues for growth in revenue and profit at Dan-Loc,� Fendrich said.
Freestone is a Houston-based private equity firm focused on acquisitions of midsize manufacturing, distribution and service firms, principally located in Texas and the Southwest.
Typical investments are made alongside experienced management with successful track records in companies with revenues between $10 million and $50 million. Web: freestone.com

Hodell-Natco Acquires Bonanza
Hodell-Natco Industries Inc. acquired Bonanza Nut & Bolt Inc.
The Reno, NV, Bonanza becomes Hodell-Natco�s ninth location and first in the Western U.S. Bonanza�s product mix adds to Hodell-Natco�s construction and OEM markets.
Bonanza founder Dick Sawtell remains with Hodell-Natco as vice president of marketing and purchasing. Brandon Liebhard continues as Reno general manager.
Hodell-Natco distributes ferrous and nonferrous standard and metric fasteners and chain products. Cleveland-based Hodell-Natco has locations in Chicago; Columbia, MO; Houston; Milwaukee, WI; Newark, NJ; Orlando, FL; Reno, NV; and St. Louis.

Textron Sells Wire Joint Venture
Textron Fastening Systems sold its stake in a wire processing joint venture to Shinsho American Corp.
Textron owned 60% of Holly, MI-based Grand Blanc Processing LLC. The company was formed in 1995, and its 2001 sales were about $7.5 million. Grand Blanc anneals, draws, cleans and coats raw wire to prepare it for use in fastener production.
Terms of the sale were not announced.
The venture primarily supplied Textron Fastening plants and suppliers to Japanese transplant automotive operations in North America.
Textron Fastening sold the venture �after identifying wire processing as a non-core business activity that no longer provided a competitive advantage to the company.�
Textron has now sold off its North American wire processing, including sales last year of Warren Processing Division and the shutdown of its Steel Processing Division.

TransTechnology Sells Retaining Ring Business to Barnes
TransTechnology Corporation sold its German retaining ring manufacturing assets to Barnes Group Inc. for $20 million cash.
The sale of Seeger-Orbis GmbH & Co. is part of TransTechnology�s restructuring to reduce debt. TransTechnology is exiting specialty fastener manufacturing and other industrial products to focus on defense and aerospace products.
Last summer TransTechnology sold its Breeze and Pebra hose clamp businesses for $48 million. In December TransTechnology sold its Engineered Components business for $96 million. Proceeds have primarily been used to reduce debt from $273 million last March to $127 million at the end of January 2002.
Seeger-Orbis will expand the product offering and geographic scope of Barnes� Associated Spring business unit.
Barnes CEO Edmund Carpenter said Seeger-Orbis will �add approximately $30 million in annual sales to Associated Spring�s operation and further reinforce our position as a leader in the worldwide engineering and manufacturing of precision springs and stampings.�
Seeger-Orbis invented the retaining ring.
Carpenter said Barnes �continues to identify acquisition opportunities that complement our businesses and expand our company and that will add shareholder value over the long term.�
Liberty Corner, NJ-based TransTechnology has 380 employees at plants in New Jersey, California and Connecticut. Aerospace product sales totaled $81 million for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2001.
Bristol, CT-based Barnes was founded in 1857 and had 2000 sales of $740 million. Barnes has 5,200 employees at 50 locations worldwide. \�2002 FastenerNews.com