Company History
Aavid was founded in 1964 as Aavid Engineering. In 1995, Aavid's former parent acquired Fluent, a provider of design and simulation software used to predict fluid flow, heat and mass transfer and chemical reaction. The goal of the acquisition was to combine two complementary thermal management solution providers, with Fluent providing the software solution and Aavid providing the hardware solution.
In 1996, Aavid's former parent completed its initial public offering and began trading on the NASDAQ under the trading symbol "AATT". Proceeds from the IPO were used to increase North American manufacturing capabilities. During 1996, operations were further expanded through the acquisitions of Fluid Dynamics International Inc., a provider of computational fluid dynamics software, a manufacturing facility located in New Hampshire and Beaver Industries, a heat sink manufacturer in Canada.
In October 1999, Aavid acquired one of its largest competitors, Thermalloy, the thermal management division of Bowthorpe plc. Thermalloy designed, manufactured and sold a wide variety of standard and proprietary heat sinks and associated products. This acquisition expanded Aavid's worldwide manufacturing capabilities by providing it with facilities in Texas, Mexico, England, Italy, Hong Kong and Malaysia. In connection with this transaction, Aavid also acquired Curamik Electronics GmbH, a German corporation that manufactured substrates used in the power semiconductor and other industrial electronics industries.
In February 2000, Aavid's former parent consummated a merger with corporations formed by Willis Stein & Partners and other investors, whereby Aavid became privately held. Following the merger, operations were consolidated into two operating units: Aavid Thermalloy LLC and Fluent, Inc. These two business units were quite different from each other and as a result were operated as separate standalone entities.
During 2002, Aavid consolidated its operations in Texas, New Hampshire, California, the U.K., Malaysia and Singapore and sold its Germany-based Curamik Electronics subsidiary. The same year, the Company established an engineering design facility in India.
In 2004, the Company acquired a small heat pipe manufacturing company located in Taiwan and established manufacturing operations in India.
In February 2006, Aavid's former parent and Fluent were sold to ANSYS Inc. In connection with ANSYS transaction, all thermal management operations were spun-off to shareholders of Aavid's former parent.
In June 2008, Aavid Thermalloy created the Solar Product Group based in Santa Clara, CA.
For more information on Aavid Thermalloy and the company's products and services visit www.aavidthermalloy.com
