Large Dutch processor Royal Ten Cate has sold its U.S. aerosol-overcap subsidiary to a consortium of two molding companies.
Engineered Molding Solutions Inc., a custom molder based in Spring Grove, Ill., has purchased the manufacturing facility and six injection presses from Ten Cate Plasticum USA, a wholly owned subsidiary of Almelo, the Netherlands-based Royal Ten Cate.
Engineered Molding plans to move its entire operation to the former Plasticum site in McHenry, Ill. The move is to be completed by the end of May, said Engineered Molding President Mike Jacobs.
Jacobs, who launched the Illinois molder in 1996, helped manage the 25,000-square-foot Plasticum facility when it was built two years ago, he said. He left Plasticum to devote his attention to growing Engineered Molding.
"It will provide a nice platform for our growth," Jacobs said in a May 11 telephone interview. "We expect to more than double our sales this year."
Engineered Molding expects to record about $4 million in sales in 2001 with the acquisition, Jacobs said. The company recorded about $1.7 million in sales last year.
The injection molder will move its seven injection presses to the McHenry facility, for a total of 13 machines with clamping forces of 50-500 tons. The plant is about 60 miles north of Chicago, near the Wisconsin border.
Custom molder Cobra Plastics Inc. of Twinsburg, Ohio, acquired the tooling assets and aerosol-overcap product line from Plasticum. The company will expand its aerosol-cap offerings to more than 24 cap styles, according to a news release.
Cobra will mold its own aerosol caps, using the tools obtained from Plasticum, and will subcontract some of its Chicago-area work to Engineered Molding, Jacobs said. Cobra President Kent Houser was unavailable for comment before deadline.
Cobra also will distribute caps for Plasticum's European line in the United States.
Ten Cate spokespeople were traveling and unavailable to discuss the transaction. But the Dutch company announced March 29 that it would attempt to sell off its technical plastics components facilities. Those plants were not performing as well as other divisions, according to the company.
"They're facing some problems due to declining volumes and a squeeze on prices," said equity analyst Jan-Hein Arts of Amsterdam, Netherlands-based Bank Insinger. "They expect profits to decline by 50 percent in the first half of the year. The U.S. plant was not a key to their survival."
Ten Cate's plastics operations also include the molding of office equipment and other aerosol-cap facilities in Europe and Asia. The company also has a U.S.-based thermoset composites division, strengthened with the purchase last year of San Jose, Calif.-based Bryte Technologies Inc.
The company has announced no plans to sell those thermoset operations or its textile and fibers businesses. Terms of the Plasticum deal were not disclosed.
Ten Cate reported 2000 sales of 620 million euros ($584 million).
