Coats sells North American crafts operation

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jan 22, 2019

Industrial threads giant Coats Group has been on something of an acquisition spree in recent periods as it builds up its global operations in key areas. 

But it’s also shedding some non-core businesses as it focuses squarely on the products it makes for the global fashion and sports industries. It said on Tuesday that it has sold its non-core North America Crafts business to Spinrite Acquisition Corp, a leading provider of craft products in North America.

It will get $37 million in cash on completion of the sale (which should happen within the next few weeks) with the proceeds to be used to reduce Coats’ overall group debt. 

Rajiv Sharma, Group Chief Executive of Coats, said of the deal: “The sale of our standalone North America Crafts business allows us to focus completely on our high performing business-to-business global Apparel and Footwear, and Performance Materials businesses. It also gives North America Crafts more opportunities to grow by being part of a large crafting group.”

Only last month the company announced that it was buying Singapore-based ThreadSol, which makes a suite of software solutions for the apparel and footwear industries. And shortly before that it become a strategic investor in Twine Solutions, an Israel-based technology start-up “that has developed a revolutionary digital thread dyeing system.”