Toll compounder Alloy Polymers Inc. has added a third location by purchasing a plant in Crockett, Texas, from Ampacet Corp.
No purchase price was disclosed in the deal. Since 1999, Tarrytown, N.Y.-based Ampacet has used the Crockett plant for toll compounding of black compounds for the wire and cable market.
The Crockett plant employs 45 and has annual capacity of about 100 million pounds on a combination of Banbury and continuous mixers, according to Craig Allshouse, Alloy's vice president of business development. The 100,000-square-foot plant sits on an 80-acre lot about 100 miles north of Houston.
``This gives us a footprint more toward the polymer producers on the Gulf Coast,'' Allshouse said in a phone interview. ``It expands our geographic reach.''
Richmond, Va.-based Alloy already operates plants in Gahanna, Ohio, and Richmond. The Crockett purchase brings the firm's total annual compounding capacity to more than 300 million pounds. Alloy is privately held and does not release financial data.
Ampacet acquired the plant from Equistar Chemicals LP of Houston. In a May 15 news release, Ampacet officials said the products the plant had made in Crockett ``will no longer be a major core business going forward.''
``It was a poor strategic fit for us,'' Ampacet senior business development director Frank Iannotti said in a phone interview. ``We had no presence in wire and cable. Our focus is in flexible and rigid packaging.''
Iannotti added that the Crockett sale was a stand-alone deal for Ampacet and that the firm, which posted sales of more than $650 million last year, is not looking to sell other properties.
Instead, Ampacet's strategy will continue to center around future growth, Iannotti said. Already this year, Ampacet opened its first plant in Mexico and added a new twin-screw extrusion line in Heath, Ohio. Overall, Ampacet employs 1,400 at 17 plants worldwide.
The deal also has a bit of a historical angle, since Alloy President and Chief Executive Officer Subhash Pahuja worked at Ampacet for 10 years before buying Alloy in 1982.
Alloy added a new compounding line in Richmond earlier this year. The firm will continue to emphasize its tolling services and has no interest in making proprietary products, Allshouse said.