TORONTO - A third suitor is seeking to acquire automotive parts molder Tarxien Corp. of Ajax, Ontario. PaintPlas Inc., also of Ajax, offered C$14.50 (US$10.88) per share in its bid mailed on Nov. 8. Its offer is worth about C$46.3 million (US$34.7 million), or about 3 percent more than an all-cash bid by Gecamex Technologies Inc. and a cash/share combination bid by Ventra Group Inc.
Brian Lawson, chairman of Tarxien's board of directors committee evaluating bids, said in a Nov. 13 interview that the committee needed several more days to evaluate PaintPlas's bid. It earlier recommended Gecamex's bid.
PaintPlas chairman, president and chief executive officer Richard Myron said Tarxien, an injection molder and painter, would fit well with PaintPlas, which paints and assembles plastic and metal auto parts, mainly for Tier 1 suppliers to General Motors Corp. PaintPlas's facility is across the street from Tarxien's Ajax molding facility.
Myron would not confirm a report that PaintPlas has annual sales of about C$40 million (US$30 million). The late Arnold Medad founded PaintPlas 15 years ago. He also was a founder and owner of Tarxien before Tarxien was bought by an outside group and taken public. Alan Medad, a son of Arnold Medad, is a partner in privately held PaintPlas, which started in business by doing painting for Tarxien.