Coats Group extends acquisition spree with $12m ThreadSol buy

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Dec 20, 2018

Coats Group is continuing its acquisition spree with the world’s largest industrial threads manufacturer’s latest buy being ThreadSol for “a cash consideration of up to $12 million.”

Coats has been very focused on future-proofing its business and has been particularly interested in forward-looking companies, with the firm saying on Thursday that “ThreadSol's cloud-based digital applications provide an excellent fit with the existing Coats Global Services business.”

It added that the complementary suite of software solutions for the apparel and footwear industries “will enable brands, retailers and manufacturers to drive productivity gains, supply chain control and speed to market.”

The deal comprises $5 million as an initial payment, with further payments of up to $7 million over the period to 2022.

Headquartered in Singapore, ThreadSol was founded in Delhi in 2013. It has development centres across India as well as offices in Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. In 2018, its sales will be around $2.3m.

Rajiv Sharma, Coats Group Chief Executive, said: “ThreadSol is an exciting acquisition that supports a key aspect of our growth strategy: to build an innovative software solutions business for the apparel and footwear industries.  We will be able to draw upon our demonstrable track record of successfully integrating bolt-on companies following the acquisitions of Patrick Yarn Mill, Gotex and Fast React Systems, all of which are performing well under our ownership.”

It’s only just over two weeks since Coats said it has become a strategic investor in Twine Solutions, an Israel-based technology start-up “that has developed a revolutionary digital thread dyeing system.”

Although its Twine stake is only a 9.5% holding, it has a seat on the board and access to a proprietary digital thread dyeing system which combines the features of small-scale digital printing with the traditional dyeing process and enables thread to be produced, on demand, to any colour and length.