Spell Capital Partners LLC's spending spree continues, as the Minneapolis-based investment firm has added a third acquisition to two recent purchases of U.S.-based injection molders.
Spell's Midwest Plastic Components unit, based in St. Louis Park, Minn., has acquired Ansonia, Conn.-based Spectrum Plastics Molding Resources Inc. Spectrum employs 100, operates 60 presses and has annual sales of $16 million. The firm does tight-tolerance molding for medical, electronics, consumer and industrial markets.
Spectrum, founded in 1967, was sold to MPC by Barnes Group Inc., a $1.4 billion maker of aerospace and industrial components based in Bristol, Conn.
The company announced the purchase in an April 8 news release, though the acquisition was completed in February. In December, MPC closed deals for custom injection molder Peerless Injection Molding LLC of Garden, Calif.; and prototyper and short-run specialist Dynacept Corp. of Brewster, N.Y.
No purchase prices were disclosed.
``All three companies have outstanding reputations for quality manufacturing,'' MPC Chief Executive Officer Peter Thompson said in the release.
Peerless has 48 employees operating 16 presses. The firm posted sales of about $9 million last year. It specializes in injection molding, mold making and assembly in a number of markets including medical and dental devices and aerospace components. Peerless was sold to MPC by owner Scott Taylor.
Dynacept employs 55 and now has changed hands for the fifth time in 10 years. The Primavera family, which founded the firm in 1973, merged it with Triple S Plastics in 1998. The combined firm was sold to Eimo Group and then to Foxconn Electronics Inc. before being sold back to the Primaveras in 2006.
With the acquisitions, Spell now has made five plastics buys in the past five months. In January, the firm bought plastics machinery firms Brown Machine LLC of Beaverton, Mich.; and Epco Machinery LLC of Fremont, Ohio. The Epco business is being relocated to Brown's Beaverton site.
Spell is in the process of selling injection molder Victor Plastics Inc. of North Liberty, Iowa, to River Bend Industries LLC of Fort Smith, Ark. Victor filed for bankruptcy in January. Spell also sold plastic wire maker Copperfield LLC of Bremen, Ind., to Waukegan, Ill.-based Coleman Cable Inc. last year.
Spell's other plastics holdings are materials makers PVC Compounders LLC of Kendall, Ind.; Prime PVC Inc. of Marion, Ind.; and Breen Color Concentrates Inc. of Lambertville, N.J. Prime PVC and Breen Color are operated as divisions of PVC Compounders. Spell also owns three nonplastics manufacturers.
In addition to the three deals, MPC in 2007 spent about $1 million on new molding, milling and robotic equipment. The firm employs 160 and has 48 presses. It posted sales of $26.5 million last year.
