Polimoon Group Ltd., the rapidly expanding European packaging and technical components molder, has improved access to the French automotive industry through its acquisition of Vendée Plastique.
Polimoon said it took over Les Herbiers, France-based Vendée Plastique, a family-owned developer and molder of auto parts, primarily interior and seat frame components, March 31. Already an established supplier to the French automotive sector, the firm counts as its chief customer Tier 1 supplier Faurecia SA.
Days earlier, Oslo, Norway-based Polimoon, which has unveiled a string of acquisitions over recent months, announced it is reorganizing its rigid packaging operations in Denmark.
The company has acquired the profitable packaging molder P-Industri A/S of Sjæland, Denmark, and plans to close the loss-making bottle and container molder Rosti Pack A/S of Glostrup, Denmark. Polimoon took the latter over in February as part of its 18 million euro ($22 million) purchase of the container division of Copenhagen, Denmark-based molder Rosti A/S.
Most business from the Glostrup unit will be switched to the P-Industri plant, with the rest absorbed by other Polimoon packaging facilities located closer to the customer base, said Polimoon. Glostrup employs 65; 30 workers will transfer to P-Industri.
Polimoon's takeover of Vendée Plastique gives it six technical molding operations in Europe. Others include injection and blow molding plants in Luvia and Turku, Finland; Rõngu, Estonia; Zevenaar, the Netherlands, and Zlín, Czech Republic.
Bought by the Macrez family in 1992, Vendée Plastique saw its business expand steadily from sales of 2.2 million euros at the time to 25 million euros ($30 million) in 2005. From a diversified components supplier, it has focused increasingly on auto parts supply. It employs 180 today.
The French firm has about 50 injection presses, ranging up to 1,300 tons of clamping force. It has a development partnership for new products with the nearby specialist French company CD Plast, according to Polimoon President and Chief Executive Officer Arne Vraalsen.
Polimoon paid around 11.5 million euros ($14 million) for Vendée Plastique, which has been renamed Polimoon Vendée Plastique SARL. The Macrez family will continue to manage the acquired business.
``Vendée Plastique is a good match for Polimoon ... Polimoon will particularly benefit from its customer base and technical know-how in interior components. With ... the [group's] recent acquisition in the Czech Republic, it means Polimoon is in an improved position to serve the European auto industry,'' Vraalsen said.
P-Industri was owned by Henrik Petersen through a holding company. He will continue at Polimoon as general manager in Sjæland.
Polimoon expects to report a pretax profit of 232 million krona ($36 million) on annual 2005 sales of almost 2.5 billion krona ($388 million).