AEA Investors has acquired Spectrum Plastics Group, less than a year after the medical extruder was created by the private equity firm Kohlberg & Co. LLC.
Based in Alpharetta, Ga., Spectrum was formed by the 2017 merger of Pexco LLC and PPC Industries and its subsidiary Kelpac Medical. The group operates 15 plants in five countries and has about 2,000 employees.
Spectrum also has complementary injection molding, silicone and assembly capabilities. It also has industrial profile and film markets under the Pexco and PPC brand names.
Terms weren't disclosed for the deal announced Jan. 31 by AEA Investors, which was founded in 1968 by the Rockefeller, Mellon and Harriman families and manages $10 billion of capital.
"AEA Investors is a global investor with a strong track record of supporting companies such as Spectrum Plastics Group and taking them to the next level," Spectrum CEO Neil Shillingford said in a news release. "We are elated to be part of this team while we evolve our business in specialty and medical plastic manufacturing on behalf of our customers and employees."
Spectrum was formed in May 2017 after Kolberg bought Pexco and merged it with PPC Industries, which it had acquired in 2014. The merger created a group with a wide range of products and capabilities, including silicone tubing extrusion, high-volume fluid management tubing, microbore and catheter extrusions, bioabsorbable manufacturing and finished medical devices, Matt Robida, Spectrum's vice president of business development, told Plastics News at the time.
It was No. 19 in Plastics News' most recent ranking of North American pipe, profile and tubing extruders with an estimated $215 million in sales for 2016.
Robida also had said Spectrum would continue to pursue mergers and acquisitions to supplement capabilities and the group "had several relationships in development."
Kohlberg , which is based in New York and has completed investments and acquisitions with an aggregate transaction value of $15 billion, is now exiting Spectrum Plastics with a pat on the back for Shillingford and his team.
"They have built a true market leader and we wish them continued success," Seth Hollander, a Kohlberg partner, said in a news release.