Primat Curtis makes a major move into the Brazilian galvanising market

“Being close to our customers is essential; in our line of work, the impact of logistics is by no means trivial.” This is a key point highlighted by Primat Curtis’s sales director, Alberto Girardi, for a group that processes a thousand tonnes of steel every day at its facilities. Anti-corrosion treatments for fastening systems, particularly for the automotive sector. Screws, nuts and bolts that enter the group’s production processes before being sent back to customers, awaiting dispatch to the final recipient. The impact of logistics is one of the reasons driving the group to invest in Brazil, acquiring Realtec, a company that carries out surface treatments for fasteners, specialising in particular in flake zinc. “It’s a country that has been growing for years,” explains the manager, “and the automotive sector in particular is developing rapidly. Stellantis’s largest plant in the world, to give one example, is located right in Minas Gerais.” The acquisition, which is taking place in parallel with the closure of the group’s existing subsidiary in Brazil (Prosdac), leaves the group’s overall size virtually unchanged, with a workforce of 620 (220 of whom are in Italia), €124 million in revenue and 12 plants across Europe, North America and South America.

“The other reason behind the new investment in Brazil,” explains Girardi, “is the partial diversification that this acquisition allows us to achieve in the Oil & Gas sector, which is experiencing strong growth in Brazil. Although our core business generally remains fasteners for the automotive sector.” Fontana, Agrati and Brugola, the main manufacturers of these products, are in fact all customers of Primat Curtis, which, like the entire sector, is affected by the stop-and-go nature of car manufacturers’ production cycles. “The picture is now a little better than last year,” he explains, “though we are still a long way from the progress we saw, for example, in 2023. Forecasts? Difficult to make; we take orders on a contract manufacturing basis and have at most 2–3 days’ visibility on orders. These must be processed within 48–72 hours, which is why proximity to our customers’ sites is essential. At our Lecco facilities, for example, we handle what comes from Veduggio with Colzano (Fontana and Agrati) and Lissone (Brugola), with lorry journeys taking no more than half an hour – a significant factor also in terms of calculating our environmental ‘footprint’.

This acquisition in Brazil is by no means a one-off for a group that has grown over the years precisely through external expansion, a strategy that culminated in 2023 with the acquisition of Curtis Metal in the United States. “Today,” adds Girardi, “we are among the world’s leading groups in this sector. At present, we are focusing on consolidating our acquisitions by making the most of potential synergies, although we do not rule out further M&A transactions in the future. The expansion process is not over; we are looking particularly closely at other investments that could enable us to play an even more significant role across the entire region.”