U.S. flexible foam makers FXI and Innocor Inc. will merge to create a polyurethane company that can supply customers in the transportation, bedding, furniture, medical and other sectors.
Private equity company One Rock Capital Partners, controls FXI , based in Media, Pa., and Bain Capital is the majority shareholder of Red Bank, N.J.-based Innocor. Neither company would reveal financial details or share information about their ownership stakes in the combined company.
FXI has 16 manufacturing and distribution facilities in the U.S. and employs 2,200. Innocor employs around 1,800 and has 21 factories and distribution centers. Innocor's products are sold under the Sleep Innovations and Novaform brand names.
Harold Early, currently FXI CEO, will head the combined firm.
"We will be able to offer customers enhanced manufacturing and [research and development] capabilities and reduced delivery times through of our enhanced footprint," he said in a March 5 news release.
Bill Redmond, Innocor's CEO, will sit on the board of the new firm, which has yet to be named.
The transaction, financed through debt, is expected to close in the second half of 2019, subject to regulatory approvals.
According to the companies' websites, both have plants in Tupelo, Miss., while they also have plants near each other in California and Indiana.
In California, FXI's plant in Orange is around 60 miles from Innocor's San Bernadino site.
In Indiana, Innocor's plant in Elkhart is 66 miles from FXI's plant in Fort Wayne, and about the same distance away from FXI's plant in Auburn.
FXI has other plants in: Cornelius, N.C.; Corry, Pa.; Aurora, Colo.; East Rutherford, N.J.; Houston; Kent, Wash.; Omaha, Neb.; Portland, Ore.; San Leandro, Calif.; and Santa Teresa, N.M. It also has two sites in Mexico.
Other Innocor plants are in: Red Bank; Miami; Dublin, Ga.; Dubuque, Iowa; West Chicago, Ill.; Newburyport, Mass.; Lebanon, Mo.; Baldwyn and Coldwater, Miss.; and High Point, N.C.; Spencerville, Ohio; Archbald and Dunmore, Pa.; Chattanooga; Brenham and Terrell, Texas.; Longview, Wash.; and Portage, Wis.