EuroWire March 2021

Corporate News

Avantus acquires California Screw Products Avantus Aerospace, a leader in C-Class and composite parts for the aerospace and defence industry, has acquired California Screw Products (CalScrew), of Paramount, California, USA. Boeing (including BDSI), Incora (Wesco), Honeywell, Collins, Pratt &Whitney, GE, Airbus and Lockheed Martin.

The existing management teams will continue to operate and grow the business under the guidance of fastener president Dennis Suedkamp and director of business development Larry Valeriano, who was formerly president of CalScrew. Avantus CEO Brian Williams said, “The CalScrew team is known for taking care of their customers and we are excited about dovetailing their unique fasteners into our expanding product line-up. Our combined strength allows Avantus to continue offering a diverse range of high-quality products with exceptional customer service.” Mr Valeriano commented, “California Screw Products is a well- known brand in the fastener standards market, and looks forward to joining FIT and FTC as another integral company in the Avantus fastener and C-Class portfolio.” Avantus Aerospace is owned by private equity firm Inflexion, and Auctus Industries, a specialist investor in aerospace businesses, focusing on off-market deal sourcing and the execution of buy- and-build acquisition strategies. Avantus Aerospace https://avantusaerospace.com

CalScrew manufactures high-strength fasteners for commercial and military aerospace applications and has a natural fit with other companies within the Avantus group, including FTC (Fastener Technology Corp), acquired in December 2019, and FIT (Fastener Innovation Technology), acquired in September 2020. CalScrew, founded in 1984, supplies difficult-to-manufacture “standards”, serving more than 45 aircraft platforms. Some of its customer relationships span multiple decades, such as those with

▲ Avantus specialises in C-Class and composite parts for aerospace and defence Photo credit: PRNewsfoto/Avantus Aerospace

International Spring and Processing Equipment exhibition

The Wuxi Taihu International Spring and Processing Equipment Exhibition was held in Wuxi Taihu International Expo Center in Wuxi, China, in November. The exhibits, in an area of nearly 20,000m 2 , ranged from spring-related products, raw materials for production and key components, to advanced manufacturing equipment, testing instruments and

equipment, and the latest technology, products and services. The exhibition attracted almost 10,000 buyers to negotiate and purchase, and more than 300 machines and pieces of equipment were scheduled for sale. The exhibition was first held in 2004, with accumulated totals of more than 5,000 exhibitors and over 400,000 visitors

across the 16 years. The exhibition is said to be well received by domestic and foreign manufacturers, dealers, buyers, end-users and the related upstream and downstream industries of springs, wire and fasteners. It has become one of the largest domestic exhibitions for the spring industry. The 17 th Wuxi Taihu International Spring and Processing Equipment Exhibition will be held, again in the Wuxi Taihu International Expo Center, in the second half of 2021. Focuses of the exhibition will include precision marketing and deep communication, expanding the industry network, the contradiction between sup- ply and demand, and the development of the machining industry in the Yangtze River Delta region. It will provide a tech- nology and business communication platform for spring and related industry colleagues from around the world, in the field of intelligent manufacturing. Jiangsu Sanjiaozhou International Conference and Exhibition Co Ltd www.wxthz.com

Fasteners diversification

Sundram Fasteners Ltd is to extend into the aerospace and defence sectors, partly to reduce the company’s dependence on the automotive sector. Managing director Arathi Krishna confirmed, “We have commenced operations in defence and aerospace to de-risk our business model, and shelter it against the cyclical nature of the auto industry. “Currently, the auto to non-auto business stands at 80:20 ratio. Going forward, we would like that to be in the ratio of 75:25.” Sundram Fasteners Ltd www.sundram.com

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March 2021