Haas TCM of West Chester, Pa., has acquired Kemfast Aerospace, a Hampshire, U.K.-based supplier of chemical management services and aerospace chemicals, including turbine engine oils, hydraulic fluids, piston engine oils, aircraft grease, lubricating oils and fluids. Terms of the transaction were undisclosed. Both companies are privately owned.
We believe this will certainly enhance our lubricants offering and help us expand our business, Kemfast managing director Chris Wright told Lube Report. Weve now got a wider range of products available to us. Kemfasts suppliers have included Shell, Air BP, ExxonMobil, Royal Lubricants, Nyco, Castrol and Molykote.
Wright said that each company complements the other in terms of the geographical distribution of their customers, adding there was no overlap, as none of Kemfasts 600 active customers had been Haas customers. Were very strong in Europe and the Middle East, and Haas is very strong in Latin America and the continental United States.
He explained that while Kemfast has focused on supplying the aerospace industry, Haas has split its focus among aerospace and a variety of other industries, including utility and automotive companies. We have kind of different business models, but between us that combination will enable us to offer different solutions both to aerospace and non aerospace companies, he said.
According to Wright, Kemfast will also benefit from Haas expertise in information technology. Haas has invested significant money over the years in their information technology, he said. We were a long way behind them in our ability to provide various levels of reporting and support to our customers. Were taking that on board, and will have that available to our customer base.
Thaddeus Fortin, Haas TCM chief executive officer, said, Haas TCM and Kemfast Aerospace fit together well because our service offerings are similar, yet we have little overlap in customers. He added that all the directors and employees of Kemfast Aerospace will be joining our team. Wright and Howard Bunn will continue to manage the business and stay on as managing directors.
Kemfast Aerospace has 53 employees, and has nine distribution locations in England and Ireland. Haas TCM, which has 300 employees, provides chemical management services to more than 250 customer locations in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Turkey, Israel and China. Its customers are in the automotive, aerospace, electronic, semiconductor, defense, transportation, industrial manufacturing, food and beverage, process and energy sectors. Chemical management services is a business model in which a customer engages with a service provider in a long-term contract to supply and manage chemicals and related services.