British Vita buys Crown's polyolefin sheet extrusion unit

04 June 2003 11:02  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (CNI)--UK polymer technology group British Vita said Wednesday it has bought the trade and assets of Crown General's polyolefin sheet extrusion division near Antwerp in Belgium.

The principal assets are two extrusion lines which will be dismantled and reassembled, one at British Vita's Julich, Germany plant and the other at one of the company's UK sites. British Vita has three UK production sites: Newbridge near Edinburgh in Scotland, Redhill in Surrey, southeast England and Widnes in Cheshire, northwest England. 

British Vita, which has frequently hit the acquisition trail since raising around £101m (about $156m/Euro159m) from divestments last year, did not disclose the financial terms of the Crown deal.

However, a spokeswoman stressed that it did not involve any of the business' employees.

She said Crown's sheet extrusion division recorded sales of around £1.5m ($2.5m/Euro2.1m) last year. The division's order book and number of customers was not disclosed.

In a statement, British Vita said the assets and customer base of Crown's sheet extrusion business would further enhance its presence in the European polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) sheet markets.

Calvin O'Connor, British Vita director with responsibility for industrial polymers, said the acquisition would provide opportunities for future growth.

Since selling around half its stake in US thermoplastic materials and specialty compounds producer Spartech last year, British Vita has made a series of acquisitions with the proceeds. Last week it announced the purchase of BASF's acrylonitrile-butadiene styrene (ABS) specialty trademark Ronfalin. In March, it announced the acquisition of Italian colour and additive masterbatch producer Synco from Cognis.

By: Neil Sinclair
+44 20 8652 3214

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