Fasteners like screws, nuts, bolts, and rivets hold much of the world around us together—from phones to cars. Many of them come from Swedish company Bulten, whose roots go back to 1873. That year, two forward-thinking engineers saw a business opportunity in manufacturing fasteners for trains, railways, and bridges. After World War II, Bulten emerged as one of Europe’s leading manufacturers of fasteners.

Following previous acquisitions of manufacturing units in China and Taiwan, 2023 marked the next step in Asia. With support from SEK, Bulten acquired a distributor of fasteners and small components in Singapore.

Anna Åkerblad, CFO at Bulten, explains why:

“Asia is a very interesting market with great potential for us. In order to begin expanding there, we needed to complement our business with a distributor. The acquisition of Exim Mfr & Enterprise (Exim) played a key role in this.”

Tapping into New Industries

Another goal was to get closer to the rapidly growing manufacturing sector in Southeast Asia.

“We’re talking about industries like consumer electronics, medical technology, and others that have different purchasing patterns than the automotive sector, which has historically been our largest customer base,” Åkerblad says.
“These sectors have shorter product life cycles, launch new models more frequently, and tend to buy from distributors rather than directly from manufacturers. As a traditional manufacturer, we simply didn’t have the distribution knowledge that Exim brought to the table.”

The newly acquired company, Exim, is a well-managed business with an international customer base and well-developed processes for distribution and vendor-managed inventory (VMI).

“Exim brings valuable expertise in VMI, which means supplier-managed inventory for manufacturing companies that often purchase large volumes of low-value products, such as screws and nuts,” she adds.

SEK Co-Financed the Acquisition

Bulten’s previous bank was keen on involving a co-financier in the deal, resulting in SEK helping finance part of the purchase through a two-year loan.

“SEK’s financing made the acquisition possible, and we had a very smooth and constructive dialogue with them. The cooperation was easy and efficient, and we received a lot of good advice along the way,” says Anna Åkerblad.

She emphasizes the importance of seeking support when establishing operations abroad:

“You have to be humble enough to realize you need help. Surround yourself with good partners at all levels – preferably international ones with experience in cross-border acquisitions.”

She also recommends appointing a local CEO to lead the transformation based on knowledge of the local context:

“It’s important to remember that not everything can be managed centrally – no matter how advanced the technology,” Åkerblad concludes.

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