Royal-Premdor venture to make doors WOODBRIDGE, ONTARIO — Royal Group Technologies Ltd. plans to form an alliance for door production and distribution with Premdor Inc.
The partners will introduce composite residential and architectural door products, but their initial focus will be on residential steel doors. They also plan to tap Royal's Ecoproducts recycled polymer technology. They expect to finalize the deal Jan. 31.
Royal, based in Woodbridge, will continue to make its own line of vinyl patio doors and garage doors. It will make composite doors for the alliance at Woodbridge.
Products made by the venture will be distributed through Premdor's network in North and South America, Europe and Asia. Premdor of Mississauga, Ontario, makes more than 30 million doors annually for markets worldwide. Royal is a relatively small player in the global door market.
As part of the agreement, Royal will sell its steel-clad entry door business, Steelwood Doors Inc., to Premdor for C$14.5 million (US$9.9 million) in stock and cash.
Leader buying French eyewear firms
MONTREAL — Leader Industries Inc. will be a bigger force in industrial eyewear protection by buying two companies in France.
Montreal-based Leader mainly molds proprietary safety eyewear for industry and sports. The planned acquisition of Paris firms Lunettes de Protection Essilor SA and Logo Service SA will diversify Leader's industrial eyewear line and help it tackle markets in North America and Europe.
Lunettes designs, assembles and distributes safety eyewear in Europe. Leader General Manager Joel Roussin said Lunettes has some North American sales, mainly in Quebec. Lunettes contracts out lens molding, but Leader hopes to do some of its molding in Montreal. Logo does lens cutting and assembly.
Leader runs an 11-press shop molding polycarbonate lenses. It hard coats them and also makes other components such as frames. Leader has invested about $2 million (US$1.4 million) in eyewear production and development in the past year, he said.
Officials pegged industrial eyewear markets at about C$500 million (US$340 million) in North America and C$125 million (US$85 million) in Europe.
Lunettes brings 50 products to Leader's line. Roussin said Leader's sales will reach C$25 million (US$17 million) in 1999, and he expects about 50 percent growth in 2000.
AET expanding plant, shutting another
VARENNES, QUEBEC — Applied Extrusion Technologies Inc. will expand its Varennes oriented polypropylene film plant and phase out production at North Andover, Mass.
The Peabody, Mass.-based firm will spend C$48.5 million (US$33 million) to raise capacity from the current 14 million pounds per year to 34 million pounds, said Christiane Tardy, operations director for AET (Canada) Inc.
The investment figure includes US$13 million that AET paid for equipment in the North Andover plant when it acquired the operation from AEP Industries Inc. in early 1999. It also includes a C$4.4 million (US$3 million) grant from Investissement Quebec to create jobs. One OPP line will be relocated from North Andover to Varennes. The other two lines in North Andover were dismantled and will be sold for parts. AET does not own the building.
AET Canada recently started a metalizing line it transferred from North Andover, Tardy said by telephone. It plans to make OPP films mainly for export. The firm will boost space in Varennes to about 154,000 square feet, and employees to 108.
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