Altair Industries Acquires Specialty Wire Maker Central Wire Industries

Altair Industries has acquired Central Wire Industries, a manufacturer of specialty alloy wire and cable products used in aerospace, defense and other demanding industrial applications.

Central Wire (CWI) draws and shapes metal wire and cable from specialty alloys — metals blended for strength, heat tolerance or corrosion resistance beyond what ordinary steel provides. The company’s metal capabilities include stainless steel, nickel alloys and red metals, the copper-based family that includes brass and bronze.

CWI has assembled much of its footprint through acquisition. The company acquired National Filtration (1989), followed by the South Carolina-based wire operations of Nucor (1998). In the 2000s the company added Greening Donald, a Canada-based wire maker (2003); Techalloy, a Baltimore-based provider of welding consumables (2005); and a Wisconsin-based steel facility from Charter Specialty Steel (2010). In the mid-2010s CWI widened its product range and geographic reach with the acquisitions of Florida-based Strand Core (2014); UK-based Hempel Wire (2015); Indiana-based wire-rope maker Sanlo (2016); and Connecticut-based specialty wire and cable maker Loos & Co. (2018).

CWI was founded in 1955 as a maker of fine-diameter red-metal wire for weaving fourdrinier fabric, the fine wire mesh that carries and drains wet pulp on a paper machine to form a sheet of paper. It later built expertise in fine stainless-steel wire and expanded into nickel alloys.

Today, CWI makes products such as ultra-fine wire, shaped-profile wire and wire-rope strands for uses that cannot tolerate failure, where buyers specify exact metal properties, tight dimensions and long service life. The company operates 12 manufacturing sites across the United States, Canada and Europe and serves more than 3,000 customers a year in the aerospace and defense, industrial, medical and energy markets. CWI is led by president and chief executive officer Paul From and is headquartered near Ottawa in Perth, Ontario.

“We were looking for a partner who shared our commitment to scaling the business and operational excellence,” said Mr. From. “Altair stood out to us because of their disciplined operating approach, hands-on partnership model, and deep understanding of the industries and customers we serve. We are excited to partner with Altair and the future opportunities this acquisition creates for our employees, customers, suppliers, and industry partners.”

Specialty alloy wire sits at the unglamorous but critical base of the aerospace, defense and industrial supply chain. A jet-engine fastener, a surgical spring, a naval cable or a downhole energy component may each depend on wire drawn to precise dimensions from an alloy chosen to resist heat, corrosion or fatigue, and a failure in that small part can disable the larger system. Demand for such materials has been rising as manufacturers and defense programs press to secure supply closer to home, with concerns about the resilience of global supply chains and a preference for U.S.-based sourcing of mission-critical components making domestic producers of engineered metals more sought after.

The purchase fits the strategy Altair set out when it was founded in 2025: to back middle-market manufacturers positioned for the reshoring of production and the expansion of defense budgets. Central Wire is the firm’s first platform investment.

“CWI has built an exceptional platform comprised of a talented team, deep customer relationships, and a dependable supply chain that few competitors can match,” said Altair in a statement. “Specialty manufacturing for A&D and mission-critical industrial applications is exactly where we believe we can add significant value, and we see significant opportunity to invest in the company’s capacity, capabilities, and people to support its next phase of growth. We look forward to partnering with the CWI team and helping the company scale in this next chapter.”

Altair Industries invests in North America-based manufacturing and service companies with at least $10 million of EBITDA. Sectors of interest include aerospace and defense, government services, specialty manufacturing, and industrial services. The New York City-based firm was founded in 2025 by David Waxman and Michael Livanos, both founding members and longtime executives of the industrials investor Stellex Capital Management. Altair launched with backing from Taproot Capital and is raising its debut fund, Altair Industries Fund I LP, which is seeking up to $550 million of capital.

Silver Point Capital led the financing facility to support the acquisition of CWI by Altair Industries. “Silver Point is pleased to partner with Altair Industries and lead this financing in support of its acquisition of CWI,” said Anthony DiNello, the head of direct lending at Silver Point. “This transaction is among the first investments from Altair’s debut fund, and we’re proud to work alongside the firm to deliver a financing solution designed to support CWI in its next phase of growth.”

Silver Point is headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, with offices in Chicago, Charlotte, Los Angeles and Palo Alto, and $50 billion in investable assets, including more than $18 billion in direct lending strategies serving private equity-backed and sponsor-less borrowers.