Flame retardants maker FRX Polymers Inc. is going public through a reverse takeover of a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).
"This is a SPAC-type deal," CEO Marc Lebel said in a May 20 phone interview with Plastics News. "We can go public either through an IPO or through a shell company, but using a shell company reduces a lot of the risk in going public."
Chelmsford, Mass.-based FRX is merging with Good2GoRTO Corp. in the deal. Good2GoRTO is a capital pool company based in Toronto. FRX will be listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange on May 24.
Lebel said FRX — which operates a production site in Antwerp, Belgium — wanted to go public because the firm "is on the cusp of substantial growth as a company."
According to Lebel, recent bans on brominated flame retardants in New York state and in the European Union region will create sales opportunities for FRX's Nofia-brand polymeric flame retardants, which are used with polycarbonate, polyurethane and other plastics.
Nofia materials are phosphorus-based and halogen-free. Applications for Nofia include textiles, automotive and electronics.
The bans "are huge for us," Lebel said. "Switch-outs [of flame retardants] are happening now…There are some really exciting things coming our way."
FRX also has benefited from strong demand for flame retardants and tight supplies of yellow phosphorus needed to make many flame retardants used in plastics. Supplies of that material began to tighten last year because of energy consumption limits in Yunnan, China, where much global yellow phosphorus is sourced.
FRX's production site hasn't been affected by the yellow phosphorus shortage, because the firm sources raw materials from a different region.
Looking ahead to the rest of 2022, Lebel said that FRX "is in good growth mode now." He added that going public "will give us the flexibility we need to be able to grow."