Global specialty plastics and fiber supplier Filtrona plc will pay $35 million for Lendell Manufacturing Inc., a U.S. maker of water-soluble polyurethane foams.
Lendell officials did not return calls seeking comment. The privately held company makes specialty foams for the medical, agricultural, printing and personal- care markets at its 60,000-square-foot facility in St. Charles, Mich.
In an Oct. 3 news release, Milton Keynes, England-based Filtrona put Lendell's expected 2008 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization at $4.2 million and said 55 percent of Lendell's business is in the medical sector, complementing Filtrona's existing operations.
As a result of the deal, Filtrona's bonded fiber components unit is being renamed the porous technologies division and expanded to include Lendell's assets.
The purchase fits with Filtrona's focus on what it considers higher-margin, higher-growth-potential businesses, according to Chief Executive Mark Harper.
Filtrona's porous technologies division will be headquartered in Richmond, Va., with plants in Richmond; St. Charles; Reinbek, Germany; and Ningbo, China. Filtrona's Fibertec brand will remain to designate its bonded fiber technology products, while foam products will be marketed under the Lendell name, executives said.
Lendell President Tim Drumhiller will join the new management team as divisional vice president of foam products.
For the first half of 2008, Filtrona reported pretax profit of £30.1 million ($53 million) on sales of £264.6 million ($467 million).