PVC plastisol and latex compounder Chemionics Corp. of Tallmadge, Ohio, has bought 3G Corp., a PVC plastisol compounder in Morristown, Tenn.
No purchase price was disclosed. Chemionics Executive Vice President John Blackfan said the 3G plant was to be closed by the end January, with four mixers and other related equipment being transferred to Chemionics' 100,000-square-foot site in Tallmadge.
``We're always on the lookout for acquisitions, and 3G's parent firm wanted to exit the compounding business,'' Blackfan said Jan. 12 by telephone.
3G's parent - Lea-Wayne Knitting Mills of Morristown - first was a customer of Chemionics, then began producing its own PVC plastisol compounds and competing with the firm in some markets, Blackfan said. Lea-Wayne used the material in its skid-resistant socks.
Blackfan added that the deal moves Chemionics into some new markets such as industrial textiles and plastic fishing lures. 3G posted sales of between $1 million and $2 million in 2004.
The acquisition is Chemionics' second in the past five years. In 2001, the firm acquired a latex plant in Ashland, Ohio, from Dow Chemical Co.
Chemionics employs 48 and posted sales of $20 million in 2004, evenly split between plastisols and latex. Top markets for Chemionics' plastisol line are adhesives, molding and automotive, while its latex products are sold into the medical market, among others. The firm was founded in 1982, when Chessco Industries of Westport, Conn., bought a plastisols/latex compounding plant from BFGoodrich Co.
Blackfan estimated that Chemionics ranks among North America's five largest makers of both PVC plastisols and latex.