Coats, a leading industrial thread manufacturer, has announced it has acquired Patrick Yarn Mill, a manufacturer of high-performance engineered yarns based in North Carolina, USA.

Patrick specialises in cut-resistant and flame retardant yarns and also produces yarns from recycled fibres marketed under its earthspun trademarks and with its large solar installation promotes its earth friendly yarns as ‘Spun by the Sun’.

Founded in 1963, Patrick Yarn Mill has 150 employees and in 2016, its annual sales were $36.5m.  Patrick Yarn Mill’s unique spinning competencies in engineered performance yarns offer an opportunity to expand Coats’ existing Performance Materials portfolio as well as to extend its innovation capability.  Coats will support Patrick Yarn Mill’s expansion into high-growth markets by leveraging Coats' unrivalled geographic footprint, breadth of global customer relationships and strong corporate brand.

Rajiv Sharma, Group Chief Executive, Coats, said: “Patrick Yarn Mill is an exciting acquisition that supports a key aspect of our growth strategy: to identify innovation synergies that build scale in high technology sectors.  It is a dynamic, customer focused company and its unique spinning systems combined with our existing technology portfolio will provide a strong market offering.  We will be able to draw upon our demonstrable track record of successfully integrating bolt-on companies following our acquisitions in 2016, particularly that of Gotex, another company in this space which is performing well under our ownership.”

Gilbert Patrick, President, Patrick Yarn Mill, said: “Patrick Yarn Mill becoming part of the Coats family creates many opportunities for both companies as there is a lot of synergy between our product offerings and technology.  A key one is being able to leverage Coats’ unrivalled global footprint and strong corporate brand to accelerate market growth, which will benefit not only Patrick Yarn Mill, but also our employees and our community.  The opportunity to collaborate with a market leader in areas such as innovation and R&D is extremely exciting and very positive, not only for Patrick Yarn Mill’s future but also for our customers’ future.”

The acquisition of Patrick Yarn Mill follows two highly successful acquisitions in 2016 -  Gotex, a Spanish company which designs and manufactures high-tech industrial yarns and tapes used in the telecommunications, energy and oil and gas sectors became part of Performance Materials.  FRS, a UK based company which provides software solutions and expertise to improve operational efficiency and speed to market in apparel and footwear, became part of Coats Global Services.

According to the company, the Patrick acquisition shows Coats’ intent to grow via mergers and acquisitions in Performance Materials and Services, two areas of strategic priority.

www.coats.com