PolyOne purchases Glasforms for $34M
AVON LAKE, OHIO — PolyOne Corp. said it has acquired Glasforms Inc. of Birmingham, Ala., a maker of glass- and carbon fiber-reinforced polymers and advanced composite products, for $34 million.
PolyOne said the purchase marks the company's entry into advanced composites technology. Glasforms has grown sales at a 36 percent compound annual rate since 2010, and in fiscal 2012 had sales exceeding $50 million.
Glasforms makes advanced composites products for use in the electrical and telecommunications, energy, transportation, health care, and security and defense markets. End products that use Glasforms' products include endoscopy wands, wind-turbine blades, commercial truck floors and railcar doors, composite utility poles, earthquake-resistant bridge decks, and specialized rods used in the production of oil and gas.
“Our acquisition of Glasforms marks yet another important milestone in PolyOne's transformation, as we further broaden our specialty [products] portfolio to include these new and adjacent technologies and applications,” Stephen Newlin, PolyOne chairman, president and CEO, said in a statement.
Avon Lake-based PolyOne said Glasforms will continue to operate from its Birmingham campus, which includes six buildings and room for expansion. The company employs about 300, and its founder and president, Peter Pfaff, will continue in his leadership role along with other members of the Glasforms management team, PolyOne said.
Glasforms will be part of PolyOne's specialty platform, under the direction of Craig Nikrant, senior vice president, and president of global specialty engineered materials.
The Glasforms deal caps a busy year on the mergers and acquisitions front for PolyOne, which in October announced it planned to purchase Spartech Corp. for $393 million. PolyOne is the largest compounder in North America, according to Plastics News estimates, with an estimated market share of 10-11 percent.
Azek buys paver firm Vast Enterprises LLC
SCRANTON, PA. — Composite decking maker Azek Building Products Inc. has purchased Vast Enterprises LLC, a Minneapolis company that has been manufacturing Azek's line of composite pavers.
Azek said the deal was completed Dec. 19. Terms were not disclosed.
Scranton-based Azek had purchased an interest in Vast in September 2011, and since then has marketed Vast's pavers through a strategic alliance.
The Azek pavers are made from up to 95 percent post-consumer rubber and plastics. To date, the company said the product has diverted more than 7.5 million pounds of material from U.S. landfills, using material from more than 450,000 scrap tires and 13 million plastic containers.
Azek is owned by CPG International Inc., which also purchased Wilmington, Ohio-based TimberTech Ltd. earlier this year.
Headwaters acquires lumber maker Kleer
SOUTH JORDAN, UTAH — A subsidiary of South Jordan-based Headwaters Inc. has agreed to purchase most assets of Kleer Lumber Inc. of Westfield, Mass., for about $43 million.
Kleer Lumber makes synthetic-wood cellular PVC trim board as well as molding and decking products. Headwaters' light-building-products segment designs, makes and markets siding accessories — often of polypropylene — for residential repair and remodeling and new residential construction applications.
Headwaters' Tapco International Corp. unit entered the asset purchase agreement with Kleer Lumber, Louis Price, Walter Valentine and Jo-Anne Price on Dec. 14. The final price is subject to a working capital adjustment.
Kleer Lumber said its proprietary TruEdge technology seals edges and improves trim-board performance and appearance. Manufacturing, research and development occur in Westfield.
Headwaters intends to add the Kleer Lumber products to its national distribution network. Currently, Kleer distribution focuses on independent lumberyards and home-improvement centers in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions.
For the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, Headwaters lost $62.2 million on sales of $632.8 million. The segment for light-building products accounted for about 54 percent of the total with sales of $339.6 million to wholesale and retail distributors, contractors and other users of building products.
Headwaters' shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange. On Dec. 18, Headwaters began a registered offering of up to 10 million shares.
Dash Multi-Corp. joins Arsenal group
NEW YORK — Private equity firm Arsenal Capital Partners has signed a deal to buy Dash Multi-Corp., a manufacturer of formulated polyurethane, vinyl plastisol, specialty coatings and recycled rubber products.
Founded in 1973 by Marvin Wool, St. Louis-based Dash has annual sales of more than $100 million, according to New York-based Arsenal Capital. Arsenal is buying the company from Wool. Terms were not disclosed.
Dash has seven U.S. plants serving two primary businesses: MarChem Corp., which makes PU, vinyl plastisols, specialty coatings and adhesives; and the recycled rubber business, which makes large mat pressed products, rolled rubber, and molded goods for commercial flooring and industrial applications.
Dash claims to be one of the largest U.S. tire recyclers, processing more than 30 million pounds of tires into rubber particles annually.
Arsenal's specialty industrial group made five acquisitions in 2012, including its December purchase of the Tint-Ayd brand line of alkyd polyester-based colorants from Elementis Specialties Inc. of London.
Other Arsenal plastics holdings include Chromaflo Technologies Corp., the business it created earlier this year by merging Plasticolors Inc. and the Colortrend business of Evonik Industries AG, both of which Arsenal acquired in 2012. Chromaflo is based in Ashtabula, Ohio.
Michigan Roll Form moves to larger site
COMMERCE, MICH. — Michigan Roll Form Inc. has completed a 30-mile move west to a new 40,000-square-foot facility in Commerce.
“We simply outgrew our previous building. This move doubles our floor space, giving us much-needed elbow room,” said President Steve Arens, in a news release.
The company, which had been located in Fraser, Mich., made the move gradually over the course of a few months.
Michigan Roll is expanding its product offerings in the vinyl extrusion industry. It has a new line of extrusion post-forming products including calibration tables, embosser/chill-roll machines, calibrators and inserts.
The company's products include roll form machines and tooling; mechanical and air presses; flying cut-off, crop-notch and plastic extrusion dies; coil holders, flying cut-off saws; and recoiling and rotary perforator machines.
Michigan Roll was founded in 1952 as a roll form tooling company. The company has grown through the acquisition of the Contour, Pneu-Powr and Pfeiffer brands. Its purchase of the assets of TruTech Tool and Machine Co. in 2010 expanded its metal forming capability.
Arens said the company plans to hire more employees for manufacturing and engineering.