UPDATED — In a deal between two well-known purging compound makers, Sun Plastech Inc. has acquired Novachem for an undisclosed price.
The acquisition “further expands Sun Plastech's position as the leading provider of purging compounds in the plastics industry,” officials with the Parsippany, N.J.-based firm said. Sun Plastech has been making Asaclean-brand purging compounds for 25 years.
Sun Plastech now plans to close Novachem's eight-employee production site in Bridgeport, Conn., by the end of the year, according to vice president Joseph Serell. Novachem makes SuperNova-brand and Novapurge-brand chemical purging compounds and InstaPurge-brand mechanical purges. Those products now will be made at Sun Plastech's Asaclean production site in Fowlerville, Mich.
Sun Plastech officials said that combining Novachem's chemical purging compounds with its own Asaclean mechanical purge line will allow their firm to offer customers products that meet almost any purging scenario.
Asaclean previously hadn't offered chemical purges, Serell said. He added that Novachem had been “a very good competitor” to Asaclean for many years.
Purging products help injection molders, extruders, compounders and blow molders reduce costs and maximize production efficiency by minimizing downtime and reducing scrap, officials added.
Novachem was founded in 1989 and had been owned by three owners — two in the United States and one in the Netherlands. The two U.S. owners had been active but will leave the firm after the transaction.
Sun Plastech is a wholly owned unit of Tokyo-based materials maker Asahi Kasei Corp. Mergers and acquisitions firm Polymer Transactions Inc. of Newbury, Ohio, represented Sun Plastech in the deal.
Novachem was represented by Molding Business Services LLC of Florence, Mass.