Belt Power continues acquisition tear with purchase of Avtech Industrial

MARIETTA, Ga.—Belt Power L.L.C. has made another acquisition, this time adding Avtech Industrial Products to its expanding portfolio.

Terms of the acquisition, which closed May 2, were not disclosed.

The purchase represents the fourth bolt-on for Belt Power—in areas that span the continental U.S.—in the last year alone.

"We are excited to join forces with Pat, Kevin and the Avtech team to expand our service offering in the Southwest," said Don Heitmeier, CEO of Belt Power. "We look forward to complimenting their capabilities and increasing our value proposition to customers across the Southwest territory."

Avtech, formerly Avtech Industrial Products and Conveyor Belt Shop, is a distributor of conveyor belts, motors, drives, hose and fittings, gearboxes and other products.

The company offers installation, fabrication and repair services.

"We are thrilled to announce our partnership with Belt Power," said Pat Markey, president of Avtech. "With the addition of Belt Power's extensive support and engineered services, we are now better equipped than ever to meet the needs of our customers."

Belt Power noted that the combined company "provides a platform to deliver value-added solutions to customers across the Phoenix market and leverages Belt Power's expanding footprint, fabrication capabilities and technical sales organization."

Belt Power now has more than 20 facilities across the U.S., focusing on distribution and product fabrication for the food, packaging, industrial and material handling segments.

To say that Belt Power has been aggressive with its acquisitions is an understatement.

Small- and mid-sized firms in lightweight belting are finding a new home under Belt Power as the company concludes its fourth purchase in the last year alone.

On the heels of an Oct. 30, 2023, acquisition of Blankenship Belting in the Pacific Northwest, Belt Power purchased Reliable Rubber Inc. of Romeoville, Ill., just outside Chicago, in November of last year.

Terms of these acquisitions were not disclosed.

Like the Lakewood, Wash.-based Blankenship purchase, Reliable Rubber increases Belt Power's footprint in a specific geographic area, in this case the Midwest.

A second-generation belting and component firm, Reliable has been in business for more than 45 years and specializes in the distribution and fabrication of conveyor belting, hose, industrial rubber and urethane products.

Conversely, Reliable Rubber will leverage Belt Power's expanding footprint, fabrication capabilities and technical sales organization.

In addition to Reliable Rubber and Blankenship Belting, Belt Power in recent years acquired Dunham Rubber and Belting Corp.; Accurate Industrial Products L.L.C. of Imperial, Mo., a fabricator and distributor of lightweight belting components; Engineered Components Inc. of Ormond Beach, Fla., a distributor of material handling parts; Rubber Services Corp. of Denver, a distributor and fabricator of conveyor belts; and Regional Supply L.L.C. of Marietta, Ga.

And there are no plans for Belt Power to change its purchasing position, as the company told Rubber News last year that it plans to open new locations in the coming years in Springdale, Ark., and Memphis.

Platte River Equity, Belt Power's owner, is a Denver-based private equity firm that invests in established lower middle market operating companies within targeted industrial sectors.

And one of those market segments clearly is industrial rubber distribution, as it invested first in 2022 in Belt Power, and then late last year in bringing together Tipco Technologies Inc. and HydraTech Industrial Solutions.

Managing Director Peter Calamari and Principal Mike Reilly see great opportunity in the future of the platforms.

"Part of it is the diversity. It's infrastructure, transportation, government, manufacturing, and energy and gas. It's a little bit of everything," Calamari told Rubber News earlier this year. "So you have great diversity, you have tons of customers. You're not at risk of losing any one business."