STEVENAGE, ENGLAND — Akzo Nobel NV has sold Courtaulds Packaging Plastic Tubes Europe Ltd. to the firm's senior management for an undisclosed sum.
Arnhem, Netherlands-based Akzo had purchased Plastic Tubes last year when it bought British chemical company Courtaulds plc of London.
The Stevenage tube operation employs 63 and makes extruded plastic tubes for the cosmetic and personal-care sectors at a single plant.
The company, now known as Arista Tubes Ltd., was bought by a three-strong management team headed by the firm's managing director, Jeremy Paul, and includes finance director Ben Stephens and sales and marketing director Evelyn Tweedlie.
They are being joined by Charles Peal, chief executive of British investment and buyout group Legal & General Ventures Ltd. Peal becomes nonexecutive chairman of Arista Tubes. The buyout team received financial backing from British banking firm Lloyds TSB Commercial Finance Ltd.
Akzo had sold off the bulk of Courtaulds' packaging operations in a management buyout in November. But the Stevenage plastic tube business was left out because it has different technology from Courtaulds' laminate tube operations.