Global resin distributor Bamberger Polymers Corp. has been sold to Plastiche SA, a firm controlled by the same family that controls global materials giant Ravago Group.
Officials said Bamberger will continue to operate "separate and independent" from Ravago. The Roussis family has controlling stakes in both Plastiche, a private investment company, and Ravago, a leader in global distribution, compounding and recycling.
No purchase price was disclosed in the deal between Plastiche of Luxembourg and Jericho, N.Y.-based Bamberger, which distributes more than 1 billion pounds of resin per year and has annual sales estimated at $750 million.
In a March 29 news release, officials said acquiring Bamberger "will diversify the Roussis family holdings in an industry in which they are already involved."
They added that Bamberger will continue to be managed by current senior management, with a newly named board of directors. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals, and is expected to close in the first half of 2018.
A Bamberger spokesman said the firm has 39 shareholders made up of senior management and key employees. He added that the Bamberger family no longer holds an interest in the company. Steve Goldberg and Dennis Don have been co-CEOs of the firm since 2012.
"Bamberger will continue to compete vigorously with those Ravago companies that are in the same market as Bamberger," the spokesman said.
Luxembourg-based Ravago employs around 6,000 worldwide, distributing almost 9 billion pounds of resins and compounds to 40,000 customers. The firm also operates more than 1 billion pounds of annual compounding and recycling capacity. Since early 2016, Ravago has made eight distribution-related acquisitions.
Bamberger Polymers distributes for 10 material suppliers, including Westlake Chemical, Indorama Ventures, Ineos Olefins & Polymers USA and Total Petrochemicals. It also distributes generic resin grades under its own Bapolene and Bapolan brand names. The firm was founded in 1967 by Gerald Bamberger, who worked for the plastics compounding and trading business of oil and gas supplier Cities Service.
Bamberger Polymers operated as a public company from 1987 to 1993, when it was bought out by management, including longtime executives Goldberg, Don, Fred Garcia and Lawrence Ubertini.
Gerald Bamberger retired in 1984 and died at age 93 in 2013. Garcia, who died in 2015, is credited with building the firm's international business. He served as the firm's CEO for many years before retiring in 2004. Ubertini followed Garcia as CEO and retired in 2012.
The Bamberger family has a long history in plastics dating to the 1930s. The family at one point owned the company that later became global color concentrates leader Ampacet Corp. A cousin also started a purging compound company that continues to operate as Claude Bamberger Molding Compounds Corp. in Carsltadt, N.J.
Bamberger Polymers operates sales offices around the world, most recently opening one in Costa Rica in 2012.
