AEP acquires Mercury film plant in Ky.
SOUTH HACKENSACK, N.J. - AEP Industries Inc. of South Hackensack is acquiring a Kentucky film plant from Mercury Plastics Inc. for $11.6 million.
Mercury is becoming New Mercury Plastics LLC, operating as a joint venture between Mercury Plastics of City of Industry, Calif., and Sigma Plastics Group in Lyndhurst, N.J. New Mercury officials had disclosed plans to sell the Bowling Green, Ky., plant, but they had not revealed the identity of the buyer.
The deal is spelled out in documents in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles, where Mercury filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year. AEP and Mercury entered an agreement Feb. 1 and placed funds of $11.6 million in escrow.
AEP did not disclose the information until Feb. 23.
Publicly held AEP operates nine film plants in North America: Alsip, Ill.; Chino, Calif.; Edmonton, Alberta; Gainesville, Texas; Griffin, Ga.; Matthews, N.C.; Waxahachie, Texas; West Hill, Ontario; and Mountain Top, Pa.
Conair exec Conrad Bessemer resigns
PITTSBURGH - Conrad Bessemer resigned Feb. 20 from Conair Group Inc., after 19 years of working in management posts at the auxiliary equipment maker.
Bessemer cited ``philosophical differences regarding the future direction of the company.'' He started at Pittsburgh-based Conair in 1987 and held several different executive positions. Since mid-2005, he had served as president for the Americas.
For a number of years, Bessemer was vice president of operations. In 2002, under a new management structure unveiled by Sewickley Capital Inc., the Pittsburgh holding company that owns Conair, he became president of Conair North America.
Bessemer, 54, plans to remain in plastics, he said by telephone from his Pittsburgh-area home. ``I anticipate staying in the plastics industry. I am looking forward to a couple of months off, but I'm also looking forward to meeting all my friends at NPE,'' he said.
In a news release, Christopher Keller, president and chief operating officer, said: ``We are grateful to Conrad for his 19 years of service to Conair and for his role in our growth during that time, and we wish him the best in his future pursuits. We are sorry to see him leave during perhaps the most exciting time in Conair's 50-year history.''
Keller said Conair finished ``very strong'' in 2005.
Silgan to purchase White Cap closures
STAMFORD, CONN. - Silgan Holdings Inc. has agreed to acquire Amcor Ltd.'s White Cap closures business, based in Hanover, Germany, for $280 million.
Publicly held Silgan, based in Stamford, announced the purchase Feb. 22. The deal will close in the second quarter, and Silgan will finance it through its senior secured credit facility or new senior subordinated notes, or a combination.
``With this acquisition, we are recombining the business with its U.S. counterpart,'' Phil Silver, Silgan's co-chairman and co-chief executive officer, said in a news release.
The combination will create the global leader in vacuum closures for hot-filled food and beverage products, ``with No. 1 positions in North America and Europe and either No. 1 or No. 2 positions in the developing markets of South America and Asia Pacific,'' he said.
The White Cap metal closures business has 10 manufacturing facilities in Europe, Asia Pacific and South America. The unit had sales of $300 million for its fiscal year ended June 30.
Poly Karts expanding into blow molding
CALERA, OKLA. - Poly Karts USA Inc. of Calera is moving into blow molding in a 20,000-square-foot facility in its southern Oklahoma headquarters.
After vacuum forming and compression molding for more than 10 years, officials decided to move into blow molding refuse carts for commercial use in restaurants, for example.
The expansion pushed Poly Karts to purchase three accumulator-head machines from Davis-Standard LLC's Hartig line. Two 50-pound-shot machines will be used in Calera, President Tom Sutherland said in a Feb. 23 telephone interview. A 67-pound-shot machine has been put into a warehouse in Norwalk, Calif., for a plant that will be operational in the next six months.
The company employs nearly 30 in Calera, including 18 for its blow molding operations.