1991, 1998 & 2000 FIN – Gardenbolt History

March 15

00:00 2010

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FASTENER HISTORY
1991, 1998 & 2000 FIN – Gardenbolt History

2004 FIN ? HTI Sold for $55 Million in Management Buyout

December 19, 2004 FIN – Parent company Alleghany Corp. closed the deal with HTI’s management and Capital Partners Inc. of Greenwich, CT, to sell the fastener supplier that insurance provider Alleghany has owned since 1974.

HTI expanded its fastener holdings in the past few years with the acquisition of Reynolds Fasteners Inc. and Gardenbolt International.

HTI reported revenues for the third quarter of 2004 jumped 36.8% to $41.8 million, while nine-month sales gained 44% to $123.22 million.
In 2003, HTI reported sales of $113.1 million during a year that saw some restructuring for the company.
HTI named Greg Brown to replace outgoing CEO Don Haggerty, who joined HTI when it acquired Reynolds Fasteners.
The company also relocated its headquarters from Sayreville, NJ, to Bloomingdale, IL, that year, along with celebrating its 50th anniversary.
The master distributor and importer was founded in 1953 as Heads and Threads Co. in Chicago. Web: headsandthreads.com ©2004/2010 FastenerNews.com

1998 FIN – Gardenbolt Acquired By Heads & Threads

September 18, 1998 FIN – Two leading North American fastener importers announced a merger which makes fasteners a major part of a publicly held corporation.
Lee Bookman, president of Heads & Threads Company, and Steve Schonholtz, president of Gardenbolt International Corp., announced that Alleghany Corporation, which is listed on the NYSE, signed contracts September 1 to team the two longtime competitors.

Bookman said that “as co-directors of the American Association of Fastener Importers, Steve Schonholtz and I worked on the U.S. Fastener Quality Act for several years. Working closely with him, I learned about Steve’s Gardenbolt and about the man himself. I believed that merging Gardenbolt with Heads & Threads would benefit our customers substantially. I’m delighted that the merger is complete,” Bookman told FIN.
“We believe that this merger, plus our new state-of-the-art computer system, will put us in position to offer our customers, fastener jobbers and distributors the best service and the best source for quality imported fasteners in the U.S.”

Schonholtz said “by merging together two of the largest fastener importers in the U.S., Alleghany has created a nationwide specialist in “off the shelf” products for distributors.
“After competing with Lee and Heads & Threads for more than 20 years, this is an exciting opportunity to join together the best of what our individual companies have to offer,” Schonholtz said. “This represents the next logical step in Gardenbolt’s corporate evolution.”

Chicago-based Heads & Threads was founded as a private corporation in 1953. It was acquired first by MSL Industries in 1960 and by Alleghany in 1974. H&T now has 19 offices and distribution locations.

Gardenbolt, headquartered in Sayreville, NJ, was established in 1943 as Scheinert Bros. Inc. and grew from a small hardware distributor in lower Manhattan to a leading importer through acquisitions and expansion of commodities.
GBI has eight warehouse and sales office locations serving distributors through four divisions: Direct Mill Sales, Warehouse Sales, Stock for Release and Laser Construction Fasteners.

Schonholtz said there will be no apparent changes in Gardenbolt’s operations in the near term. Mill Sales and Stock for Release operations will continue under the Gardenbolt International name, while the stock sales will slowly be moved into Heads & Threads operation.
Heads & Threads

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