Lincoln Electric Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: LECO) acquired Weartech International Inc., a privately held producer of cobalt-based hard facing and wear-resistant welding consumables.
Weartech is headquartered in Anaheim, Calif., with manufacturing plants in Anaheim and Port Talbot, Wales. The company has annual sales of approximately $40 million and employs 140 people combined at both locations.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
"The acquisition of Weartech is a continuation of our ongoing strategy to expand the breadth of our consumable product portfolio to better service our global customer base," said John M. Stropki, Lincoln Electric chairman and CEO. "Weartech is well positioned globally in the specialized cobalt welding consumable market, selling primarily to the high-growth energy and process chemical segments. We expect strong growth in these segments and believe the Weartech product line will help expand and deepen our relationships with key global customers."
"Over the past 20 years, Weartech has provided technical solutions to customers facing wear problems both in the United States and internationally," said Patrick Iyer, Weartech president. "Joining with Lincoln will significantly expand our distribution network and our ability to reach these customers worldwide. Our management team, with more than 150 years of combined experience, is looking forward to becoming part of Lincoln Electric and continuing to serve our customers around the world."
The Lincoln Electric Company, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, designs, develops and manufactures arc welding products, robotic arc welding systems, fume extraction equipment and plasma and oxyfuel cutting equipment. The company also markets brazing and soldering alloys globally.
