According to Bloomberg, Business Week, and The Wall Street Journal, Bain Capital LLC has bought Apex Tool Group LLC. Apex, among other things, manufactures Craftsman-brand wrenches, ratchets, and sockets. This is a huge $1.5 billion or more deal according to the articles and should be news because Apex is a ginormous US-based tool manufacturer based in Sparks, Maryland.
Bain Capital Acquires Apex Tool Group Brands
If you don’t recognize the Apex Tools name, take a look at some of their brands:
| Airetool | Crescent | Jacobs Chuck | Plumb |
| Allen | Delta Truck Boxes | Jobox | Quackenbush |
| Apex | Diamond | K-D Tools | Recoules |
| Armstrong Tools | DGD | K&F | Sata |
| Atkins | Dotco | Lufkin | Spline Gauges |
| Belzer | Erem | Master Power | Utica |
| Campbell | GearWrench | Mayle | Weller |
| Cleco | H.K. Porter | Metronix | Wiss |
| Collins | Iseli | Nicholson | Xcelite |
We’re guessing a few of those names sound at least a little bit familiar. Bain Capital looking to acquire Apex Tool Group is just another headline that indicates the company is still acquiring solid well-established companies to add to its portfolio.
Apex, who owns brands like GearWrench, Delta Truck Boxes, and Jobox, and has products branded and sold in Sears, is a pretty decent sized acquisition. Nearly $1.5 billion in sales and with over 7000 employees.
The Future of Bain Capital and Apex Tools
The biggest question will be what type of consolidation or other changes would be made to the company after the acquisition. Bain Capital doesn’t tend to invest lightly and they have a history of taking a hard look at business units and making changes that turn greater profits for the companies overall, but that may also mean some difficult decisions regarding brand redundancy and overhead.
What does this mean for the professional tool user? We’ll just have to wait and see…
