Aurora Plastics LLC has made its second acquisition of the year, this time buying compounder S&E Specialty Polymers of Lunenburg, Mass., for an undisclosed price.
Streetsboro, Ohio-based Aurora – a unit of Chicago private equity firm Wind Point Partners – is moving further into PVC compounding and into thermoplastic elastomer production for the first time by adding S&E, officials said in an Oct. 10 news release.
“S&E has a strong history of solving customer problems with unique compound solutions, combined with a strong focus on customer service and response,” Aurora CEO Darrell Hughes said in the release.
The combined company will offer a broad range of custom compounding capabilities and technologies, including rigid PVC powders; rigid and flexible PVC pellets; clear, opaque and colored flexible PVC; rigid cellular PVC; PVC/acrylic pellets; chlorinated polyethylene; custom thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO); styrenic block copolymers; plastic concentrates and purge compounds.
In addition to Streetsboro and Lunenburg, Aurora has PVC compounding sites in Welcome, N.C.; and Marieville, Quebec. Aurora acquired the Marieville site in June when it acquired Reinier Plastics.
S&E CEO Steven Graham said in the release that Aurora “is a great company and was an outstanding choice to build on S&E's legacy of providing top-tier innovation, strong customer service, and leading product quality.”
Graham acquired S&E in 2005 when he paid almost $9 million for the remnants of Gitto Global Corp., a compounder that had filed for bankruptcy after several officials used company funds for personal expenses, eventually running up debt of more than $50 million.
Graham operated S&E as part of Toner Plastics Group, a producer of plastic beads and other craft supplies that he had founded in 1989. Toner in July acquired Streamline Plastics Co. Inc, the last U.S. producer of Hula Hoop-style toys.