Global Fastener News

By Dick Callahan, FIN Editor

February 17, 1986 FIN – The Bostitch Division of Textron Inc., Providence, Rhode Island, will be sold to The Stanley Works, New Britain, Connecticut, for about $193 million if stockholders of both companies agree.

The Bostitch Division, headquartered in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, is a leading producer of staples, nails, stapling machines, wire stitchers and power actuated tools for consumer, industrial and commercial applications.

The company has manufacturing facilities in the U.S. (East Greenwich, RI, which has its own rod mill; Visalia, California; and Atlanta, Georgia) Toronto, Canada; Sydney, Australia and France. Bostitch also owns 15% interest in Max, a Japanese producer of fastener products. There are about 3,300 people employed worldwide with about two-thirds of them in this country. FIN is told that Gary C. Schuler will continue to head Bostitch as president. He joined the company 24 years ago and was with the company when it was acquired by Textron from private owners.

The company was started in 1896 and was formerly known as the Boston Wire & Stitcher Company.

In 1985 Bostitch has sales of $239 million, representing Textron’s eighth largest producer of sales revenues and its third largest profit center.

According to the current agreement, The Stanley Works (which has sales of around $1.2 billion and a net income of around $78 million in 1985) will pay for Bostitch with $50 million in cash currently on the company’s balance sheet and with short-term commercial paper that would later be converted to long-term debt.

The Stanley Works, as most of you do-it-yourselfers know, produces a variety of hand tools, mechanics tools and other products for home repairs as well as automatic garage door openers. The company operates plants in nine countries worldwide.

Sale of the Bostitch group did not come as a surprise since Textron announced last year that it was up for sale. Textron has recently sold off a number of its subsidiaries and divisions (seven the last time we counted) to help reduce the $1.4 billion in debt it incurred with the purchase of Avco Corp last year.  ©1986/2011 Fastener Industry News