Germany's Röchling Engineering Plastics SE & Co. KG has expanded its presence in the high-performance plastics market by acquiring two British firms — Fibracon Twin Ltd. and Insoll Components Ltd.
Both companies will work with Röchling Engineering Plastics (UK) Ltd., which has been in Gloucester since 1985.
The management of Fibracon and Insoll will be taken over by Rüdiger Keinberger, director of Röchling's business unit for machined components, and Mike Knowles, managing director of Röchling Engineering Plastics. The previous owners will continue to support the business in an advisory function.
Röchling said the acquisition would strengthen its position in the strategic key markets of aerospace, medical, oil and gas and also extend its portfolio of semi-finished and machined plastics products by the addition of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE).
Fibracon Twin, located in High Peak, England, is a specialist manufacturer of PTFE components and compression-molded PTFE stock shapes. It has 70 employees at its two facilities in north Derbyshire.
Insoll Components, located in Hitchin, England, has 25 employees specializing in machining small components. High-performance plastics include PTFE, PEEK and polyoxymethylene (POM).
Ludger Bartels, chief operating officer of Mannheim-based Röchling said: “Fibracon and Insoll will benefit from the close cooperation within the network of 60 locations and more than 8,000 employees which form a large network of plastic processing companies worldwide.”