Ube Industries Ltd. of Tokyo is acquiring Premium Composite Technology North America, Inc., a compounder based in Franklin, Ind.
PCTNA employs 35 and had been part of Toyota Tsusho Corp., a unit of global automaker Toyota Motor Corp. The business makes compounds based on plastics other than nylon and has annual sales of almost $32 million. The deal is expected to be completed on April 1.
Since opening in 2009, PCTNA has offered a quality management system primarily for Japanese automakers and has established itself as a longstanding supplier to the auto industry, Ube officials said in a March 23 news release.
They added that the acquisition of PCTNA will enable Ube to establish its first North American base for making its own compounds, adding to its existing manufacturing bases in Japan, Thailand, and Spain.
After growing its nylon 6 business, Ube now is strengthening its competitive advantages for extrusion applications, while expanding the scope of its business for injection molding uses, officials said.
Ube "will leverage PCTNA to supply new value to markets and customers, driven by the advantages of locally procured materials," officials said.
The PCTNA deal comes a year after UBE bought a majority stake in Spanish compounder Repol SL. Almazora-based Repol makes compounds based on nylon 6, nylon 6/6, polypropylene and acetal.
Ube is an industrial conglomerate whose businesses includes plastics and chemicals. The firm has annual sales of around $6.6 billion.