Bodycote buys part of historic US air firm

AN engineering group stepped up its push into America as it bought a firm that traces its roots back to aviation pioneers the Wright Brothers for $52m.
By The Newsroom
Published 3rd Apr 2012, 07:00 BST

Macclesfield-based Bodycote, which treats metals for the aerospace, oil and gas and automotive industries, has acquired the heat treatment business of New Jersey-based Curtiss-Wright Corporation.

Curtiss-Wright, which was the largest aircraft manufacturer in the United States at the end of the Second World War and has since evolved in to a component manufacturer, was formed by the merger of 12 companies affiliated with Orville and Wilbur Wright and Glenn Curtiss.

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The heat treatment division, which delivered $7.7m of profit in 2011, owns nine sites across the northern and central states and serves a range of industries from commercial aerospace to the oil and gas sector.

Stephen Harris, Bodycote chief executive, said the business “fits extremely well” with the company strategy.

Bodycote, which already owns 35 US plants, said the addition of three sites in Wichita, Kansas, gave it a major presence in the “strategically important aerospace industry hub”.

Bodycote has more than 170 facilities in 27 countries and specialises in improving the properties of metals.

Founded by the Bodycote family in the early 1900s, the company now employs more than 5,000 people worldwide.

Its shares have gained 15 per cent since it posted strong full-year results in February.