BRUSSELS, BELGIUM — Tessenderlo Group is growing in plastic pipe distribution in the United Kingdom with its purchase of one of the country's largest pipe and fittings suppliers, John Davidson (Pipes) Ltd.
Terms were not disclosed. Brussels-based Tessenderlo bought the Carlisle, England-based firm through Dyka UK Ltd., Tessenderlo's Ashford, England-based subsidiary.
Davidson, with 14 distribution warehouses in Scotland and England, employs 85 and had 2000 sales of 20 million ($29 million).
Tessenderlo's Dyka Plastics BV unit has 50 pipe extrusion lines at plants in the Netherlands, Belgium and France. Before the Davidson deal, Dyka had 10 distribution warehouses in the United Kingdom.
Dyka makes PVC, polyethylene and polypropylene pipe and fittings.
In 1998, Tessenderlo stepped into the British profiles market with its acquisition of PVC profile company Fairbrook plc of Little Eaton, England. Its subsidiaries, Eurocell Profiles and HL Plastics, make foam board for roofing components, plus custom extrusions for the building and furniture industries.
Tessenderlo's plastics converting division, which also includes compounding, recorded 2000 sales of 515 million euros ($458 million). Other operations include inorganic chemicals, fine chemicals and natural organic products.