8/18/2015 1:20:00 PM
HEADLINES
Applied Industrial Tech Acquires Atlantic Fasteners
Applied Industrial Technologies acquired the 100% employee-owned, Massachusetts-based commercial and aerospace hardware distributor Atlantic Fasteners. Terms of the sale were not announced.
The company name becomes Atlantic Fasteners / an Applied MSS Company.
Employee owners of Atlantic Fasteners “made off very well” with the acquisition, Advance president Tony Peterson told FIN. In addition, there is a “great opportunity for younger people here for advancement within Applied.”
Peterson said he expects most of Atlantic’s 48 employees will stay with the new company.
As for Peterson, he plans to stay with the new firm under the title of vice president / general manager.
“I love to work,” he declared.
Peterson told FIN the new consolidated office/warehouse in Agawam where Atlantic moved earlier this year has double the space and may take on more usage by Applied.
“Atlantic Fasteners provides the market presence, products ad capabilities to further enhance our Applied Maintenance Supplies & Solutions offering to a broad array of industrial customers,” said Applied CEO Neil Scheimaher. “They are an ideal fit with our business strategy and growth plans.”
Applied Industrial is an industrial distributor of five million parts to MRO and OEM customers. Applied also provides engineering, design and systems integration for industrial and fluid power applications and customized mechanical, fabricated rubber and fluid power shop services; maintenance training and inventory management.
Applied was founded in 1923 by Joseph Burning as the Ohio Ball Bearing Co. First-year sales totaled $82,000. In 1953 the name was changed to Bearings Inc. and shares were sold on the American Stock Exchange. In 1965 shares began being sold on the New York Stock Exchange.
In 1995 sales topped $1 billion and in 1997 the company name became Applied Industrial Technologies. By 2007 sales topped $2 billion.
Applied has acquired dozens of companies in the past decade, but Atlantic Fasteners is the first fastener firm. Atlantic Fasteners becomes a tiny part of Applied – which had sales of $2.5 billion in 2014. Employees can buy Applied’s stock on the NYSE. By contrast, during its 30th anniversary in 2011, Atlantic announced sales of $13 million.
Today Applied has 570 facilities in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Mexico, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and is headquartered at 1 Applied Plaza, Cleveland, OH 44115. Tel: 216 426-4000 Web: applied.com
A History of Atlantic Fasteners
Peterson told FIN that Atlantic Fasteners was approached directly by Applied in June 2014 rather than by business brokers.
Applied was interested in Atlantic for several reasons, Peterson said. Atlantic had been a supplier to multiple Applied branches for many years. Applied liked Atlantic’s reputation and New England base.
The negotiations took nearly 14 months with all the due diligence and other factors, Peterson said.
Atlantic Fasteners was founded in 1981 by Patrick O’Toole and Carol Peters.
At an informal cookout with Applied leaders, retired co-founder Carol Peters was a guest. Peterson took time to credit Peters for saving the distributorship.
O’Toole created a new Atlantic Fasteners out of the remnants of a twice-bankrupt distributorship. Peterson noted Atlantic at that point had “a bad reputation with suppliers,” and it was Peters who jumped in to convince SPS, Unbrako and other suppliers to work with the new distributorship.
“She also manned the phone,” he added.
In 2005 O’Toole and Peters sold the company to employees. The Springfield Republican reported the acquisition was valued between $5 million and $10 million, with half of the funding provided by a bank loan and half from a 12-year loan from the owners.
Atlantic Fasteners is an ISO 9001:2008 and AS9120 certified distributor that stocks 15,080 varieties of inch and metric fasteners. Earlier this year, Atlantic Fasteners completed moving from West Springfield, MA, to a 44,500 sq ft facility in neighboring Agawam, consolidating all employees under one roof at 92 H.P. Almgren Dr., Agawam, MA 01001. Tel: 800 800-2658 Web: atlanticfasteners.com
Atlantic is a company rich in Fastener History – from an early “next-day delivery” guarantee to bar coding and to employee-ownership. See stories below from the Fastener History section of GlobalFastenerNews.com.
2011 FIN – O’Toole: Bar Coding Key to 30 Years of Atlantic Fasteners Growth
“Bar coding put our error rate near zero. The key to this business became the computer.”
2011 FIN – Atlantic Fasteners Celebrates 30 Years as Chairman Retires
In 1986, Atlantic’s first guarantee of next-day delivery, backed by the promise of a $50 credit, demonstrated the company’s early expertise in inventory management.
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