Pipe supplier Spears Manufacturing Co. has acquired the assets of Coastline Plastics LLC, a manufacturer of chlorinated PVC pipe for the fire-suppression, plumbing and industrial markets.
Terms of the transaction, which closed July 1, were not disclosed.
For the past 10 years, Easton, Pa.-based Victaulic Co. operated Coastline of Yulee, Fla., as a subsidiary to its pipe joining systems business. According to a news release, the renamed Spears Coastline Plastics will continue to supply pipe to Victaulic for sale in the fire protection market.
Executives from privately held Spears and Victaulic would not comment on the transaction nor disclose sales figures for the companies.
In the news release, Spears President and Chief Executive Officer Wayne Spears said the Coastline acquisition complements his company's existing fitting and valve product lines.
Howard Snyder, vice president of Philadelphia-based investment banking firm Curtis Financial Group LLC, which advised Victaulic during the sale, said in a Sept. 2 telephone interview that Coastline operates 10 extrusion lines and has about 60 employees.
Snyder said Victaulic's decision to exit the CPVC pipe business was unrelated to the sluggish housing market.
``This transaction was conceived well before the slowdown,'' he said. ``Victaulic acquired [Coastline] and grew the business to a point where it could stand on its own and the timing was right to use that asset to gain additional capital benefit,'' he said.
Spears' primary resin supplier is Tokyo-based Kaneka Corp. and its U.S. business unit, Kaneka America LLC, Snyder said.
``Given that [Spears'] resin is coming from Japan to a plant on the West Coast, that creates a cost advantage for them,'' he said.
The same holds true for Coastline because of its proximity to Kaneka's plant in Houston, which makes CPVC, he said.
Founded in 1969, Sylmar, Calif.-based Spears has production, sales and distribution facilities in Sylmar, Denver; Salt Lake City; Orlando, Fla.; Lawrenceville, Ga.; Bolingbrook, Ill.; Lewisberry, Pa.; Flower Mound, Texas; and Auburn, Wash.