May of 2021 we posted a very interesting rumor which was floating around the North American heat treatment industry, basically the rumor stated that a North American based company was investing well over $10 million dollars in new furnaces. “The Monty Heat Treat News” did some investigating and found that the rumor was indeed true and involved a Canadian company by the name of Exco Technologies, a manufacturer of precision dies. This news item can be found at Exco Technologies to Make Large Investment in Captive Heat Treat Dept.-Find Out Why | The Monty We now have a footnote to this story, a footnote which provides a very interesting connection with one of the largest commercial heat treaters in Europe.

The press release below states that Exco Technologies has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the extrusion die business of Halex Holdings in Germany. Halex Holdings has two divisions, the extrusion die division and a commercial heat treat division which goes under the name Haertha Hardening Industries. Haertha is ranked by “The Monty Heat Treat News” as the 6^th largest commercial heat treater in Europe Largest European Commercial Heat Treaters | The Monty Over the years we have had several press releases about Haertha Hardening Industries, which from experience we can say is a progressive, forward looking company with some very impressive heat treatment technologies. We certainly can’t speculate about the company’s future plans but it would appear that the company is in a strong cash position.

We are going to leave you with photos from two of the Haertha facilities in Germany which “The Monty Heat Treat News” has been privileged to visit over the years.

“TORONTO, Dec. 20, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Exco Technologies Limited (TSX-XTC, OTCQX-EXCOF) a global supplier of innovative technologies servicing the die-cast, extrusion and automotive industries, today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the extrusion dies business of Halex Holdings GmbH (“Halex^® Extrusion Dies”). The transaction is expected to close in the spring of 2022. “This acquisition will provide us with well-established and high-quality operations, manufacturing complex extrusion dies in Europe and will also allow us to better support our global customers”, said Nick Gnatyuk, Vice President and General Manager of Exco’s Extrusion Group. “We have been looking to expand into Europe for some time and we see Halex as the perfect fit”.

Halex Extrusion Dies was founded in 1990 and operates four key manufacturing locations – two in Germany and two in the northern industrial region of Italy. The company is the second largest manufacturer of aluminium extrusion dies in Europe and the continent’s leading supplier of complex extrusion dies. Halex will complement Exco’s six existing extrusion die operations, located in Canada, USA (2), Mexico, Colombia and Brazil. The transaction is valued at €40 million (C$58 million equivalent) on an enterprise value basis and will be funded with a combination of cash on hand and available bank lines. Halex will add almost €40 million in annual sales and is expected to be immediately accretive to Exco’s earnings per share. Exco will report the results of Halex within its Casting and Extrusion segment.

“The acquisition of Halex is a unique opportunity to add a strategic asset that will accelerate Exco’s growth and sustainability objectives”, said Darren Kirk, President and CEO of Exco. “We look forward to welcoming all Halex employees to Exco”.

Did you like this article? Click here to subscribe to The Monty.

View our recent magazines and podcasts by clicking the following link. https://themonty.com/magazine/