Ascend Performance Materials LLC is expanding its production operations into Latin America for the first time, it said Dec. 8.
The Houston-headquartered company plans to purchase a compounding facility in central Mexico owned by DM Color Mexicana SA de CV, a joint venture between Dainichiseika Group and Mitsubishi Corp., it said in a news release.
Neither Ascend nor DM Color revealed details of the deal, which an Ascend spokeswoman said would likely be completed in the second quarter of 2022. However, Ascend did emphasize that the purchase agreement includes all of DM Color Mexicana's assets.
DM Color is located in San José Iturbide in the state of Guanajuato, 526 miles from Nuevo Laredo on the Mexico-U.S. border. Established in 2013, it manufactures plastic compounds and dyes, according to its website.
The Mexico facility will be Ascend's 10th manufacturing site and the fifth outside the United States.
It already operates factories in Suzhou, China; Fosses, France; Mozzate, Italy; and Tilburg, Netherlands. Its five manufacturing plants in the U.S. are in Chocolate Bayou, Texas; Decatur and Foley, Ala.; Greenwood, S.C.; and Pensacola, Fla.
"We continue to invest in and grow our engineered materials business with a focus on regional production," said Phil McDivitt, Ascend's president and CEO, in the news release. "This acquisition establishes our footprint in Latin America and allows us to produce our world-class materials closer to our global customers."
Ascend describes itself as a fully integrated producer of durable engineered materials that has grown its global production footprint with four acquisitions over the last three years — in China, the Netherlands and Italy.
"We remain committed to supporting our customers' growth and innovation through continued investments in our global manufacturing footprint, the development of new materials and enhanced technical services and support," said Isaac Khalil, Ascend's senior vice president for polyamides, in the release.
Founded in the late 1940s, Ascend employs 2,600 worldwide. It has annual sales of about $3 billion.