England-based Coats Group Plc has acquired India-based ThreadSol for $12 million. ThreadSol, a provider of material management solutions for the apparel industry, is now part of Coats Global Services. The deal expands the scale of ThreadSol’s artificial intelligence and Big-data-based software solutions, which complement Coats’ existing suite of software solutions for the apparel and footwear industries.
In other company news, Coats reports it has sold its North America Crafts Business — which includes the Red Heart, Coats & Clark, Aunt Lydia and Susan Bates brands — to Spinrite, Listowel, Ontario. Spinrite manufactures branded and private label products including craft knitting yarns. Spinrite will take ownership of Georgia-based manufacturing sites in Toccoa, Douglas and Albany, as well as a distribution center in Albany, along with approximately 560 employees. The initial cash consideration payable upon closing the transaction is $37 million.
“The sale of our standalone North America Crafts will have a stronger future with Spinrite,” said Rajiv Sharma, CEO, Coats Group. “It also allows us to focus complete attention on our high performing business-to-business global Apparel and Footwear, and Performance Materials segments.”
January/February 2019
