Specialty plastics extruder Pexco LLC has grown again through acquisition.
Pexco bought Custom Extrusion Inc. Aug. 14 for undisclosed terms. Custom Extrusion is based in Sheffield, Mass., and also runs a manufacturing facility in Asheboro, N.C.
"The acquisition gives us a footprint in the Southeast," Pexco Chief Financial Officer Steve Demboski told Plastics News in a phone interview.
"I believe this will be the first of many acquisitions," he predicted. "The market is fragmented."
Pexco focuses on industrial markets. It was spun off fromSpectrum Plastics Group in April to concentrate on lighting and custom extrusions for an array of industries, including privacy fence, traffic safety, filtration and biomedia applications, Demboski said. Spectrum will focus on medical and film markets.
Pexco and Spectrum are each owned by different funds in AEA Investors LP. AEA was founded in 1968 by the Rockefeller, Mellon and Harriman families and S.G. Warburg & Co. as a private equity fund. AEA has offices in New York, Connecticut, London, Munich and Shanghai and manages funds of about $10 billion in middle- and small-market businesses. AEA bought Spectrum early this year from private equity group Kohlberg & Co. LLC. Kohlberg created Spectrum in May 2017 when it bought the earlier version of Pexco and combined it with other businesses.
With the Custom Extrusion acquisition, Alpharetta, Ga.-based Pexco now has seven production plants in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Washington and Monterrey, Mexico. It employs about 600 and runs about 100 extrusion lines. The former Pexco grew though several acquisitions since 2010.
Spectrum runs extrusion plants in five countries. Prior to the spinoff of Pexco, Spectrum in total had 15 manufacturing facilities and about 2,000 employees.
"[Custom Extrusion] brings a wealth of expertise in lighting and custom industrial extrusions," said Pexco CEO Sam Patel in a news release. "They are known for their excellent service and their strong history as a leading solutions provider that fits perfectly with the Pexco culture."
Custom Extrusion was founded in 1957 in western Massachusetts. Its proximity to the former GE Plastics headquarters helped it develop technical advances in extrusion, the company claims on its website. Harold Stover was one of the founders. Richard Stover was Custom Extrusion's president prior to the acquisition by Pexco, but he retired in April.
