For the third time in three years, BASF Corp. has made a deal to grow its North American engineering plastics business.
This time, Florham Park, N.J.-based BASF is acquiring a large part of the engineering plastics compounding business of Lati USA Inc. No purchase price was disclosed in the deal, which does not include any production facilities, equipment or employees.
Lati - a unit of Lati Industria Termoplastici SpA of Milan, Italy - began producing compounds based on nylon 6 and 6/6, polybutylene terephthalate and acetal at a site in Summerville, S.C., in 2002, but closed the site earlier this year because of low sales.
BASF now will make compounds based on Lati formulations, most likely at compounding sites in Wyandotte, Mich., and Sparta, Tenn., according to BASF spokesman David Elliott. Lati generated annual sales of at least $10 million from these products.
In 2003, BASF purchased nylon resin and compounding businesses from Honeywell Inc. and Ticona. Elliott said the firm views North America as ``a growth market'' and is ``always looking for opportunities for growth if it meets customer needs.'' He declined to specify any future plans the firm may have.
BASF Corp. is the North American arm of chemical giant BASF AG of Ludwigshafen, Germany. The unit posted sales of almost $6 billion in the first half of 2005.