A distributor of precision cutting tools with bases in the North East and Yorkshire has acquired two firms following its private equity backing.
Helix Tool Company, which has headquarters in Leeds and a site in County Durham, has bought Washington-based tool supplier Nsert and Hertfordshire-based Floyd Automatic. The undisclosed deals are part of a merger and acquisition strategy following the backing of Helix’s parent company, MRO+ Solutions, by NVM Private Equity, in April last year
NVM said the deals were highly complementary to Helix, which is a significant provider of carbide cutting tools in the North of England. Nsert is a regionally focussed cutting tool and industrial consumables provider which is said to have a large number of customers in the North East. Meanwhile Baldock-based Floyd Automatic is a technical distributor of tools and consumables for the sliding head CNC market and is said to have several exclusive manufacturing partnerships.
The deals are said to grow Helix’s product range in the precision engineering, automotive, aerospace and medical sectors.
Matt Cattell, CEO of Helix Tool’s holding company, MRO+ Solutions, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Floyd Automatic and Nsert into the Helix family. The combined deep technical expertise in both companies complements our existing offer perfectly. Today’s announcement signifies a strong start to 2025 for Helix and we are confident that customers will see significant benefit both in terms of product offering and exceptional technical expertise.”
Charlie Pidgeon, investment partner of NVM Private Equity, said: “Consolidation of markets is an obvious driver of growth and with such a strong reputation for technical expertise we saw a clear opportunity for Matt to integrate these businesses into an enlarged Group. We are delighted to have supported them on their first two acquisitions and look forward to backing the team with more opportunities as they arise.”
At the time of its acquisition of MRO+ last year, NVM said the market is ripe for consolidation. The group also includes Grimsby-based MJ Wilson which supplies a range of clients in the energy and process industries.
Following the two latest deals, NVM highlighted Helix remains acquisitive with funds available to purchase other technical-led tooling distributors in the UK.
Original artice – https://business-live.co.uk/all-about/yorkshire-humber
