In early February, news broke that international player Optimas was being significantly reorganised, with Optimas International - covering APAC, Europe and the UK - acquired by European private enquiry firm Exponent. Torque Magazine caught up with Optimas International CEO Mike Tuffy to go through the changes and what they mean for the business and industry.
How long the acquisition has been in the works?
It was in 2022 that we separated the divisions, with very clear delineations between the two regions, which laid the groundwork. We'd been speaking with Exponent for about 14 months [before the acquisition in February 2026] and it actually took a while longer than was expected, with the geopolitical changes happening in the world. But now we're here and there are brilliant reasons for the change.
We explained to them about the multi-year transformation, how the philosophy of the markets are different and that's why we ended up being regionalised, to allow flexibility and clarity. For most of our customers and suppliers, they are regionalised and when I first took this job, I embraced the mantra of 'in country for country'. We used to have a matrix organisation structure and becoming P&L-led was a big change. That took time to bed in. We could see those changes were really starting to have an impact and that was part of the reasoning for the changes. And we want to give them value as the owner.
Have there been any surprises along the way?
I've been part of a team that's been bought and sold a few times, but I've never sat in this chair as CEO during an acquisition or sale before. So, it was different for me personally. I found it really interesting and the surprises were good: the team has been so positive; their energy, commitment and drive in getting this done. When you are running an organisation in a demanding industry but meanwhile you've got to go through all the due diligence at the same time and keep your energy up. The feedback we've had from customers in front of the new owners has been amazing. How they appreciate what the team do every day, that was a nice surprise. The confidence is high and the feedback from the market and the suppliers has been very positive and my phone is on fire!
The industry has been very supportive. There's a lot of people in this team that have been in the market a long time and we've got a lot of strong relationships. The messages have been lovely. Some said they saw it coming after seeing us make those changes a few years ago.
And what does it mean for customers? Business as usual?
Initially, yes. We have been through a few acquisitions, the last one in 2015, when we became independent from Anixter. No one knew who Optimas was, there were brand new legal entities and it was tough. This time it's much more simple. We kept hold of the brand, it has value, we spent a decade building it and we are passionate about it.
For customers and suppliers there's no change, everything that you did yesterday you're doing tomorrow. But it's good news for both sides because we've now fully focused in their region. We don't have the delays and we can be more nimble. We are now driving our own strategy and it gives us now the ability to invest. This is of massive importance for this organisation, and for this industry.
This industry is pretty complex. And there are a lot of businesses that are small, wonderful organi- sations, but are very fragmented. We're on a mission to help some of that fragmentation, to simplify some of it. We want to grow organically as well through acquisition.
Are you going to let the dust settle on the changes or is Optimas International now going "all guns blazing"?
There's a certain amount of letting the dust settle before any big changes. We're happy, the team is excited and we've done a lot of work in putting our foundations in place. We've been on a growth journey for some time, and we've got our plans and we have to execute those. We've got lots of capacity in the UK and Europe, so we are set for growth in those two areas, we already have the infrastructure. We are looking at different end markets, different customer verticals, different product groupings. We're strong in automotive in Europe and the UK, for example, but not as strong in other areas. In APAC we are absolutely flying and really happy. That's not just China, but the whole APAC region including Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand... all areas and we are not standing still. We've got to be focused, strategic and diligent. The teams Are you going to let the dust settle on the changes or is Optimas International now going "all guns blazing"?
There's a certain amount of letting the dust settle before any big changes. We're happy, the team is excited and we've done a lot of work in putting our foundations in place. We've been on a growth journey for some time, and we've got our plans and we have to execute those. We've got lots of capacity in the UK and Europe, so we are set for growth in those two areas, we already have the infrastructure. We are looking at different end markets, different customer verticals, different product groupings. We're strong in automotive in Europe and the UK, for example, but not as strong in other areas. In APAC we are absolutely flying and really happy. That's not just China, but the whole APAC region including Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand... all areas and we are not standing still. We've got to be focused, strategic and diligent. The teams are ready. And the pressure is self-driven - we have a plan and want to exceed it.
With the disruption we've seen, does it pay for a business to be more nimble? Would that play into the philosophy of this move?
We can make local decisions and we've employed some brilliant people, and we're empowering them. We want to have entrepreneurs in those regions. P&L is factored into how we run this business now. We are data-led and you want to have that, that flexibility to execute on the opportunity that you see. We're here and we're ready and open for business, ready to solve problems.
We're not a fastener distributor, we're much more than that. We solve problems, we solve pain points. We simplify supply chains. We make that complexity simple for them on the bill of materials. We've got over 20 different categories of product that we supply.
For many of our customers we only supply one or two different categories, but we've tens of thousands of SKUs we can supply in many different categories. That is part of our growth strategy and it's on us to communicate that product diversity to them. It's exciting.
So acquisitions are a potential route for Optimas?
Exponent want us to execute our organic business plan and in addition to expand through acquisition. I am looking for distribution businesses to strengthen our geographic coverage in our regions. We're looking at different markets and products and they've got to be the right cultural fit. Maybe it's a company ready for the next step but have been cautious so far. If there's an opportunity to add value, to help them grow to achieve their ambitions.
Aside from the recent changes, what are the primary aims for Optimas over the coming 12 months?
It's all about our customers and our people, that's in our DNA. We want to control the growth. Everything we do is data-led. We have spent a lot of time, effort and money in business intelligence and it's got to be effective and usable. How we talk about total cost of acquisition is a big point for me. How we explain about total acquisition to our customers, how we solve their problems for them. It's not all about the widget cost, it's all about how they apply this, what they do on their production lines, etc.
This engineering-led approach is important to us. We are immersed and engrained in our customers. That is so important and needs to continue. Going back to our people, we spend a lot of time focusing on our values, which we summarise as THREAD, an acronym for trust honesty, respect, excellence, accountability and drive. We reward people for adopting our values and this is critical for me. We treat people the way we want to be treated and we respect our individuals. This should be a given, but it's actually not in all instances.
We give awards out to people every quarter, and those are the best meetings that I have!
When there is change you need to be reassuring and manage those changes. You need empathy where it's needed or expla- nations where it's needed. I truly believe that everyone comes to work to do a good job. We need to make it simple for people.
Every single individual has their own contribution to make and our engagement with people and ensuring that they know the role they play in our goals works for us - people enjoy it better because they know what's expected and what they can do.
I do almost metaphorically want people queuing up outside, wanting to work for us. I take note of how many LinkedIn requests I get with people asking for work. It's not enough yet! We want to be an employer of choice, where we give people the opportunities to grow and excel. We've got so many examples of people that have started in junior positions and have gone on and developed with us.
Employing people isn't easy, it's expensive. If someone comes in for a few days and doesn't like it, the cost and the disruption is enormous. It is challenging. We spend time on induction and onboarding because getting people through the door is job number one. Then it's getting them to stay. That's why we have long service awards, we celebrate people at anniversaries. It's very important to the culture. We celebrate big anniversaries but the ones I celebrate the most are really the first five years.
We recently had a group call with as many people in all regions as we could. There were 400 lines open on a video and people were huddled around computers... we probably touched 80% of our people, then we recorded it for everyone on night shift or couldn't make it. It is imperative that as we continue on our journey and scale up, we keep those values.
