Thermoset composite resins major AOC LLC will have wider international exposure when its parent company, Alpha Corp. of Tennessee Inc., is acquired by a European private equity firm.
CVC Capital Partners has agreed to buy Alpha and its main asset, AOC, the firms announced May 2. AOC and Alpha are based in Collierville, Tenn.
Luxembourg-based CVC has equity in another composites resins supplier, Aliancys, based in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. AOC and Aliancys complement each other because they have focused on different geographies, a CVC spokesman said in an email correspondence.
AOC's annual sales are about $750 million, more than double the $350 million in annual sales logged by Aliancys. The companies employ about 600 and 450, respectively.
"AOC is an outstanding business with an experienced management team and world class manufacturing facilities," noted CVC partner Steven Buyse in a news release.
"We believe that its combination with Aliancys will create a robust global company with the diverse product mix and exceptional geographic reach to serve markets in every corner of the world."
AOC supplies unsaturated polyester and vinyl ester resins, gel coats, colorants, specialty additives and related systems. It operates six manufacturing facilities in the United States, Canada and Mexico, and also produces materials in Europe and Asia. It sells through sales representatives and distributors. It used to be called Alpha/Owens Corning LLC but changed its name to AOC LLC in 1998, the year Alpha bought it. AOC's key markets are automotive, marine, corrosion protection, construction and infrastructure.
Aliancys has been selling resins in Europe and Asia but not in North America. CVC acquired a stake in it in July 2015. The business has been a thermoset resin supplier for about 50 years, including when it was called DSM Composite Resins and was a subsidiary of Dutch materials, health and nutrition conglomerate DSM NV. It boasts composites manufacturing equipment at research and development facilities around the world. Major markets include automotive, construction, marine and relining equipment in chemical process industries. Aliancys has production plants in the Netherlands, France, Italy and China.
Aliancys is a joint venture of CVC and Royal DSM. In 2015 CVC bought DSM assets for production of composite resins used by Aliancys, as well as acrylonitrile and nylon 6 precursor caprolactam. CVC also bough the site servicing business Sitech. CVC created ChemicaInvest Holding to hold these assets and Sitech.
"Aliancys has excellent customer relationships and represents a great strategic and complementary fit with AOC as a market leader in global resin chemistries," stated AOC CEO Fred Norman in a news release.
Aliancys CEO Bert Bakker said in a news release that AOC shares his firm's culture of innovation, continuous improvement and customer focus.
