Seventeen years ago, Cody Slater sold his first few Rig Rats (hypersensitive vapour detection devices) to Gulf Canada and Petro-Canada and was justifiably proud when his year-end sales reached $40,000.

Two weeks ago, the one-time University of Alberta astrophysics student signed off on a deal to sell his baby, BW Technologies Ltd., to a British company for $260 million.

That’s what the analysts call a killer growth curve.

In the early days, Slater remembers it was no easy sell to interest Big Oil in his innovative gas-vapour monitors, adapted for use on drilling rigs.

Mike Sturk photo, Business Edge
Company founder Cody Slater attracted a $260 million deal.

“In those days, the question always was: ‘Where in the U.S. is this equipment made?’ ” Slater reminisced last week.

“When we answered that it was made right here in Calgary, that was probably the biggest cause for hesitation.”

Nobody’s hesitating now.

Everyone who serves aboard a U.S. Coast Guard vessel wears a tiny poison-gas detector developed and manufactured at the BW Technologies plant in southeast Calgary.

Parisian firefighters wear standard-issue carbon monoxide detectors created by BWT (BWT–TSX).

And SWAT teams across the U.S. are being fitted with BWT’s detection and monitoring devices, lightweight enough to clip onto a lapel or jacket pocket.

After two months of negotiations with its new parent, First Technology PLC of England, BW Technologies is preparing to turn a page. Time for the next chapter of a truly uplifting local-boy-makes-good story.

“They’re offering $36 cash a share. When we went public in 1997, we opened at $2 a share,” Slater reflected. “That’s a pretty good return for our shareholders.”

It’s a healthy return for Slater as well, who held about five per cent of BWT’s 7.2 million outstanding shares at the time the deal was announced.

But like any proud parent, he’s even more interested in the future of his brainchild than in the fact his personal wealth has increased by 30 per cent over the last 90 days.

BWT’s founder seems genuinely pleased and relieved that the suitor who came knocking is compatible with his own team’s vision for continued growth.

“The fit feels right. Our management supported this sale because the fit was really there,” said Slater, 42.

“The thing that would have been disappointing would be to see (us) acquired by a company that didn’t have the connections in our industry or an understanding of our approach to growth,” said the CEO, who’ll stay on as chief of First Technology’s newest international division.

“This is highly preferable to some multinational coming in and trying to change the culture to something not as complementary to our (existing) approach.”

Those who’ve followed the rise of BW Technologies through the years can only hope the Brits have the jolly good sense not to mess up a good thing.

At 25, Slater started with an active brain, a great idea, one or two employees and a shell company his folks once used to run a string of coin laundries. He built BW Technologies into a global concern that markets 30 products, employs 360 people and generates annual sales approaching $80 million.

One of the cornerstones of BWT’s success has been a hyperactive R&D department staffed with bright, energetic engineers who continually seek out the new wrinkles that will help them create newer, better products without sacrificing quality or adding to customer costs.

In that sense, the marriage with First Technology really does resemble those allegedly made in heaven.

Because the immediate plan is for BW Technologies to establish a connection (in MBA-speak, the term is vertical integration) with another First Technology subsidiary known as City Technology Ltd. City Tech manufactures the chemical sensors that Slater’s group has been using in its own products.

“City Technology is a little like the Intel of the gas detection industry,” Slater explained.“We’ve been their largest single customer and their fastest-growing customer.”

Now, with the BWT team starting to forge a working relationship with its sister corporation, Slater foresees development of cost-effective new product lines able to incorporate the sensors right from the earliest stages of design.

“That should allow us to make products that are even smaller and easier to use,” he said. Nor does he see any reason why his existing BW Technologies team shouldn’t continue to design, manufacture and sell portable safety instruments “that are more competitive than anybody’s in the market.

“I love what I do here,” grinned the father of the Rig Rat. “You’d have to kick me out before I’d leave.”