Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Resin pricing news
    • Videos
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • K Show
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Processor of the Year
    • Best Places to Work
    • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Rising Stars
    • Diversity
    • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • Pellets and Politics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • K Show Livestream
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Resin Prices
    • Commodity TPs
    • High Temp TPs
    • ETPs
    • Thermosets
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
    • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
    • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Historic Thermosets
    • Historic Recycled Plastics
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
December 06, 2017 01:00 AM

Deal may help push digital technology upgrade to your home

Catherine Kavanaugh
Staff Writer
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    Blue Diamond Industries LLC
    Blue Diamond Industries will turn more focus onto its Fiber To The Home (FTTH) business under Hexatronic. Blue Diamond's HDPE conduit pipe is used to bring high technology wires to individual houses.

    Hexatronic Group AB of Sweden, a manufacturer of fiber optic products, is acquiring Blue Diamond Industries LLC, the second-largest high density polyethylene conduit company in the United States.

    Gothenburg-based Hexatronic will buy BDI for an enterprise value of $24.5 million with an additional purchase consideration of $2.5 million based on performance.

    The sellers are four members of BDI's senior management team and they will continue in their current positions, according to Hexatronic.

    BDI will not change its name after the deal closes in January and will continue operating with its headquarters in Lexington, Ky., and a recently renovated manufacturing facility in Middlesboro, Ky.

    BDI CEO Sherri Simpson said Hexatronic gives Blue Diamond a boost into the growing microduct and fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) markets in the United States. Microducts are used as single ducts or bundled together with a protective oversheath in fiber networks.

    "Microducts are a cost-effective, scalable method for deploying fiber to meet the increasing demand for bandwidth," Simpson said in an email to Plastics News. "Microfiber cable and duct technology was born in Europe and they are the experts and innovators in this technology."

    Sweden has a mandate to provide 98 percent of the population with a 1Gbit connection by 2025, Simpson also said.

    "The U.S. is just starting to use this technology for FTTH-1G to the home and 5G wireless mobile rollout," she added.

    For the acquirer, the deal creates Hexatronic USA, a Lexington-based business with infrastructure solutions from the head end to users of the cloud, broadband, Wi-Fi, mobile and 5G data technology.

    Blue Diamond Industries LLC

    From left: Per-Anders Eriksson of Hexatronic; Bob DeMuth, Blue Diamond; George Zagorski, Blue Diamond; Henrik Larsson Lyon, Hexatronic; Sherri Simpson, Blue Diamond; Bo Vogt, Blue Diamond; Håkan Bäckström, Hexatronic.

    Simpson said Hexatronic USA is a separate company with different products but will share its headquarters with BDI and invest in its nearby manufacturing plant.

    "Hexatronic will invest in extrusion lines for microduct and regular conduit lines in 2018," Simpson said.

    Hexatronic, which is considered a trailblazer in microduct and fiber infrastructure, reports annual sales of about $175 million while BDI's yearly sales, which are mostly for larger conduit up to 6 inches in diameter, were about $28 million in 2017.

    Acquisitions are a key component of Hexatronic's strategy for long-term growth and profitability, President and CEO Henrik Larsson Lyon said in Nov. 15 comments about quarterly results from July through September 2017.

    "We are also convinced that we have to be local in the markets in which we want to grow. For example, we need to have a local organization for sales, distribution and potentially in-house production," Lyon said. "During the quarter, we made an organizational change that increases the focus on acquisitions."

    BDI was attractive because it had relocated production to a renovated 75,000-square foot manufacturing facility in Middlesboro in April 2016 after the roof of the original site in Lexington collapsed during a 2015 snow storm.

    The BDI plant has 90 employees and 11 extrusion lines. In addition to HDPE conduit for communication and power, it makes products for wind and solar energy, highway and street lighting, transportation systems and industrial pressure pipe.

    "Hexatronic gives us the ability to increase our product offering and continue to make capital investments to meet the growing needs of our customers," Simpson said in a news release. "Their unique knowledge of microduct and fiber will accelerate our product development and ability to offer a full line of products, including microduct systems."

    Hexatronic officials are pleased that their U.S. market is "developing well."

    "It is encouraging that we have reached an important milestone in the USA," Lyon said. "Our system offering, Matrix, has now been approved by a major American operator. We do not think this will have a major impact on sales in the next few quarters, but we see strong potential in the long term."

    The fiber-access Matrix system includes products for aerial, ground, underwater and indoor installation and was designed to provide the lowest total cost of ownership, highest capacity and best possible scalability and flexibility.

    Hexatronic Group AB has 400 employees and sales offices or subsidiaries in Sweden, Norway, Finland, United Kingdom, China, New Zealand and the United States. The group is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm under the ticker HTRO.

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Illinois AG sues 14 firms over PFAS contamination
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    Illinois AG sues 14 firms over PFAS contamination
    2
    Auto supplier Seoyon E-Hwa to invest $76M, add 740 jobs in Georgia
    3
    Higher sales, lower profit for LyondellBasell
    4
    Slowing demand for thermoformed PET leads to Genpak plant closure
    5
    Top-dollar deals, repeat buyers highlight 2022 M&A
    SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Tire Business
    • Urethanes Technology
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • K Show
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • Processor of the Year
        • Best Places to Work
        • Women Breaking the Mold
        • Rising Stars
        • Diversity
        • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
      • Newsletters
      • Resin pricing news
      • Videos
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • Pellets and Politics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • K Show Livestream
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
      • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Resin Prices
      • Commodity TPs
        • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temp TPs
        • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
      • ETPs
        • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Thermosets
        • Historic Thermosets
      • Recycled Plastics
        • Historic Recycled Plastics
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified