8/6/2015 12:02:00 AM
NEWS BRIEFS
Peterson: Employee Owners of Atlantic Fasteners “Made Off Very Well”
Tony Peterson
Employee owners of Atlantic Fasteners “made off very well” with the acquisition by Applied Industrial Technologies, president Tony Peterson told GlobalFastenerNews.com. In addition, there is a “great opportunity for younger people here for advancement within Applied.”
Peterson said most employees have indicated they will stay with the company.
Applied Technologies has 5,900 employees and 570 locations.
Atlantic has 48 employees.
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.
At an informal cookout with Applied leaders Wednesday, retired co-founder Carol Peters was a guest. Peterson took time to credit Peters for saving the distributorship.
Pat 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.
As for Peterson, he plans to stay with the new firm to be known as Atlantic Fasteners / an Applied MSS Company and the new title of vice president / general manager.
“I love to work,” he declared.
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