Bisco Acquires 5.4% of Ohio Firm : Expansion: The Anaheim distributor of fasteners for the aerospace and electronics industries may try to snap up all of RB&W; Corp.

Bisco Industries Inc., a distributor of fasteners used in the aerospace and electronics industries, and its president have acquired a 5.4% stake in an Ohio-based fastener manufacturer, and may make a bid for the entire company.

Glen F. Cieley, president of Bisco Industries, said he and the company have paid between $1.1 million and $1.4 million to acquire 285,000 shares of RB&W; Corp. in Mentor, Ohio. Bisco paid between $4 and $5.25 a share for the stock.

Cieley said he is considering bidding for the entire company. He said he would finance the purchase, which would cost roughly $65 million, in part by selling RB&W;’s assets, including its manufacturing operations, while retaining its distribution operations.

“It is not a bid at this point,” Cieley said. “We are evaluating how we should proceed.”

If Bisco goes forward with an acquisition, it could expand its size dramatically. The privately held Anaheim firm has 100 employees and annual sales of about $20 million. It focuses mainly on selling custom-made fasteners for the electronics and aerospace industries.

RB&W; reported a $5.3-million loss on revenue of $165 million for the year ended Dec. 31. The company, which has about 1,000 employees, focuses mainly on sales of commodity fasteners to industry.

“We’d eventually like to be in the business of selling anything that fastens things together,” Cieley said.

Officials at RB&W; could not be reached for comment.

Cieley said he had not yet received a response from RB&W.; He said the company has hired Security Pacific Burns Fry, a unit of Security Pacific National Bank, to provide advice about the proposal.