Updated Nov. 1: Arsenal Capital Partners has made two more plastics deals, this time acquiring materials firms Carolina Color Corp. and Breen Color Concentrates LLC.
Carolina Color of Salisbury, N.C., and Lambertville, N.J.-based Breen make color concentrates for a wide range of industries. The two firms operate a total of five U.S. plants.
Carolina Color is majority-owned by the family of CEO Matt Barr. The firm employs a total of 120 at plants in Salisbury and in Delaware, Ohio.
Breen is owned by private equity firm Capital Partners of Norwalk, Conn. It has annual sales of around $65 million, including Hudson Color Concentrates, which it acquired in early 2016. Breen operates plants in Lambertville; Leominster, Mass.; and Niles, Ill.
In an Oct. 31 phone interview with Plastics News, Barr and Howard DeMonte, president of Breen Color, said Carolina and Breen did not compete much, and that there had been only a small amount of competition between Carolina and Hudson.
“We see this as more of a complementary deal that will help cross-pollinate the businesses,” DeMonte said.
Barr added that the deal will help Carolina geographically in the Northeast U.S. and in the Chicago area. From a product standpoint, it will allow Carolina to move into some PVC products for the wire and cable market, where Breen has done business.
Both firms already have growth efforts under way. DeMonte said Breen and Hudson are adding “several more” production lines at their locations. Carolina Color recently purchased two nearby buildings in North Carolina covering a total of 90,000 square feet. One building will be used for additional production, Barr said, while the other will be used for warehousing.
The combined Carolina Color/Breen/Hudson business will have annual sales of around $150 million and will employ almost 300, officials said.
Arsenal partner Tim Zappala said in an Oct. 31 news release the firm is “excited to be partnering with great leadership teams that have a long history of delivering continued innovation and sustained growth.” New York-based Arsenal now has made 24 plastics-related acquisitions since 2012.
Arsenal was advised by Stout Risius Ross, which is based in Chicago.
Arsenal most recently acquired the plastics sheet business of PolyOne Corp. in June for $115 million. In September, Arsenal sold specialty polyurethanes maker Accella Performance Materials Inc. to Carlisle Cos. Inc. for $670 million. Accella had been assembled from several PU firms that Arsenal had acquired since 2015.
“We had been approached by private equity for the last several years, but we never really considered it until Arsenal,” Barr said. “This will allow us to be a leader in high-growth markets.”