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Sandvik has signed an agreement to acquire 100% of the equity interests of the U.S.-based company GWS Tool Intermediate Holdings LLC from its beneficial owners, L Squared Capital Partners and GWS management. GWS is an established and fast-growing provider of made-to-order round tools with a large exposure to the general engineering and aerospace segments. The company will be reported in Walter, a division within the business area Sandvik Manufacturing and Machining Solutions.

“With the acquisition of GWS, we take an important step in our shift to growth strategy where we have a clear ambition for our machining solutions business to increase market share in round tools and to enhance our presence in the North American market,” says Stefan Widing, CEO and president of Sandvik.

GWS primarily sells made-to-order products, such as polycrystalline diamond tools and taps, which are complementary to Walter’s standard product offering. GWS’ strong operational presence in the US and speed to market capabilities improves Walter’s value proposition and position in the manufacturing of advanced components and light-weight materials, while strengthening and complementing Walter’s current customer end-market exposure.

“We are pleased to add the GWS product portfolio to our existing US offering and become a one-stop shop for round tools for our North American customers. GWS brings us complementary production capabilities and strengthens our foothold within general engineering and aerospace, while having only a limited, low-single digit exposure to internal combustion engines. With its solid position within custom round tools and strong customer focus, GWS is a great fit for Sandvik Machining Solutions,” says Nadine Crauwels, president of Sandvik Machining Solutions.

GWS is headquartered in Florida, USA, and has around 490 employees. For 2021, on a pro forma basis, the company is expected to have revenues of approximately SEK 875 million. GWS has had strong revenue growth historically, and is expected to grow at a high single digit organic growth rate in the medium term. The impact on Sandvik’s EBITA margin and earnings per share will initially be neutral. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price. The transaction is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2021 and is subject to relevant regulatory approvals. 

Three days after announcing the GWS acquisition, Sandvik signed an agreement to acquire Canada-based ICAM Technologies Corp., a provider of innovative solutions that translate CAM data into optimized coding for guiding CNC machining operations. With a global reach, ICAM sells to some of the world’s most renowned companies in the aerospace and defense, general engineering, and automotive industries. The company will be reported in Sandvik Coromant, a division within Sandvik Manufacturing and Machining Solutions.

“I am very pleased that we can welcome ICAM to Sandvik. We continue to add software companies that enable us to broaden our offering and provide even more productive solutions within the component manufacturing process. Through this acquisition we are strengthening our offer in verification and optimization as well as our value proposition to customers across their value chain,” Widing says.

ICAM’s software combines post-processing, machine simulation, and tool-path optimization into solutions that save programming and part machining time, streamlining customer workflows as the user can go from their CAM system to verified and optimized coding (G-code) in just one step. ICAM’s offering is complimentary with the verification and optimization technology of CGTech, a global leader in software for numerical control (NC/CNC) simulation, verification, and optimization, also owned by Sandvik.

“This acquisition of ICAM supports our overall business strategy and is in line with our strategic focus to further develop our offer in verification and optimization. Our strong position within CNC machine simulation, combined with ICAM’s post-processing capabilities will enable us to deliver a complete workflow for new NC program deployment, from post-processing to highly optimized NC programs running on the machine. We look forward to welcoming ICAM to the Group,” Crauwels says.

ICAM was founded in 1971?in Montreal,?Canada and currently has?27 employees.?In 2020, the company had revenues of approximately SEK 30 million and an EBITA margin of approximately 25%. The transaction is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2021 and is subject to customary closing conditions.