A global investment company from Iceland that bought Bonar Plastics Inc. last year continues to build its rotational molding empire by purchasing Elkhart Plastics Inc. of Middlebury, Ind.
The Promens hf unit of Atorka Group hf announced the acquisition April 25.
The deal doubles the size of Promens in North America, to projected 2006 sales of about $100 million from nine plants in the region. Those U.S. and Canadian sites comprise four plants for Elkhart Plastics, four for Bonar Plastics and one Saeplast Canada Inc. factory in St. John's, New Brunswick.
Promens now employs more than 700 in North America.
Terms of the deal, which was financed by equity and loans, were not released.
Jack Welter, Elkhart's chief executive officer and principal owner, will remain with the company as CEO. He owns shares in Promens.
Welter said the deal will give Elkhart ``substantial synergies'' with Promens' rotomolding operations for buying resin, colorant and other materials, and machinery. Elkhart makes much of its own tooling, and the Promens companies could share technical resources, he said.
The deal also will help Elkhart Plastics ``expand our business into new geographic and end-user markets,'' Welter said.
According to Plastics News' most recent ranking of North American rotomolders, published in August, Elkhart generated 2004 related sales of $34 million and Bonar had $38 million in sales.
Those combined sales would move the Promens-owned rotomolders up to the No. 5 spot on the sales-based ranking - perhaps a bit higher if you add in the Saeplast Canada operation.
Elkhart itself beefed up by buying South Bend, Ind.-based rotomolder Spin-Cast Plastics Inc. in mid-2005 and picking up Rotational Solutions Corp. of Elkhart, Ind., in 2004.
The company also has a plant in Eugene, Ore., as well as its Middlebury headquarters.
Promens CEO Ragnhildur Geirsd¢ttir said Elkhart is a healthy company.
``EPI has done very well in recent years, with over 25 percent annual growth in the past years through both internal and external growth,'' she said in a news release.
``The company operates in a market with good growth potential, and the acquisition offers big opportunities for Promens' operations in North America.''
Promens claims to be world's biggest rotomolding group, with annual sales of about $220 million from 22 factories in 10 countries in Europe, North America and Asia.
Buying Bonar - which operates a dozen plants around the world - catapulted Promens and Atorka to a prominent position as a global rotomolder in 2005.
Atorka and Promens are based in Reykjavik, Iceland.
