Festool parent company buys SawStop

SawStop LLC was scheduled to be acquired by Festool parent company TTS Tooltechnic Systems by the end of July.

The sale for an undisclosed amount includes all of SawStop’s patents, intellectual property, products and facilities, according to SawStop vice president of marketing Matt Howard. He says SawStop’s owners reached out to TTS earlier this year to initiate the sale.

“We’ve always been admirers of TTS and their companies,” Howard says. “We see a lot of parallels with SawStop and the values of their products and brands. They build complementary products to ours and they focus on safety. We’re a safety company.

“With the support of TTS, we are excited to grow our business and to invest in the development of new tools. This acquisition will also continue the stability of customer support that SawStop owners have always enjoyed.”

Established in 1999, SawStop manufactures table saws designed to minimize saw-related injuries and the costs associated with them. Its saws feature a safety device that stops and retracts the blade on contact with skin.

TTS Tooltechnic Systems is a third-generation, family-owned company based in Wendlingen, Germany. Its family of companies includes Festool, Tanos, Cleantec and others.

“We are proud to join a company with a shared passion for customer safety, product quality and meticulous engineering,” SawStop president and founder Stephen Gass said in a statement. “Speaking for our entire team in Tualatin, Oregon, and across North America, we are excited to join with TTS to bring safer woodworking to more people through new tools and in new markets around the world. With a family like TTS at our side, I can’t wait to see what we will accomplish together.”

SawStop’s current management team will continue to operate the company from its Oregon headquarters.

For more, visit www.sawstop.com.

This article originally appeared in the August 2017 issue.