news Hexpol acquires RheTech
Hexpol of Sweden has completed its acquisition of the US plastics compounder RheTech from the founders’ families. The acquisition price amounted to approximately US$112 million on a cash and debt free basis. RheTech is a leading
producer of filled and rein- forced polyolefins, nylons and other engineered resin compounds. It also produces colour and additive concen- trates. Its target markets include the automotive, truck, electronics, construction, and consumer sectors. Headquartered in Whitmore
Lake, Michigan, RheTech operates two plants in Michigan, plus one in Ohio and one in South Carolina. The company had a turnover of US$117 million in 2013 and has around 212 employees. It has been majority owned by the Orley family for over 45 years. “This is excellent news for RheTech. Hexpol is already a
Hexpol’s CEO Georg
Brunstam said: “This is a further step in expanding and strengthening the Hexpol Group with another acquisition within our core business. RheTech, with its competence and capabilities, will fit nicely into the Hexpol Group and broadens our product range within polymer compounding” Hexpol is a world-leading
Hexpol’s CEO Georg Brunstam says the acquisition broadens its compounding product range
leading worldwide compound- er and this partnership will serve as a launching pad for plastics compounding for Hexpol here in North Ameri- ca,” said John Levinson, president and CEO of RheTech. He added: “Our plan through this acquisition is to maintain the current management, production lines, facilities and employee structure.”
polymers group with approxi- mately 3,800 employees in 11 countries. It has strong global positions in advanced polymer compounds, gaskets for plate heat exchangers, and plastic and rubber materials for truck and castor wheel applications. The company acquired the TPE compounders Elasto and Müller Kunststoffe in 2010 and 2012 respectively. In the past two years it has purchased four rubber compounders – Robbins, Kardoes, Vigar and Portage. ❙
www.rhetech.com ❙
www.hexpol.com
AMI’s Twitter followers pass 10,000
@PlasticsWorld, the Twitter page for AMI’s magazines, publications and events, has now attracted more than 10,000 followers from around the globe, reaffirm- ing its position as the most popular Twitter feed run by plastics industry magazines. The @PlasticsWorld
Twitter page is used to announce plastics industry news as it happens, providing useful links to rel- evant web pages, reports, images and videos. Our 10,200+ Twitter
followers are also the first to be notified when we publish a new issue of one of our digital magazines. If you already have a
Twitter account, then you can follow and contact us at @PlasticsWorld. Those without a Twitter account can still view our Tweets at: ❙
www.twitter.com/plasticsworld
IKT adds new Coperion compounding line
The Institute for Plastics Technology (IKT) at the University of Stuttgart has added a new Coperion ZSK 18 Megalab laboratory extruder to its R&D facilities. The twin-screw extruder has a screw
Coperion’s head of processing
technology Frank Lechner (left) with the IKT’s Prof. Christian Bonten (right) and the new ZSK
www.compoundingworld.com
diameter of 18 mm and is designed for low production rates up to 40 kg/hour. This makes it suitable for the compound- ing of small batches for the development of new formulations, especially those incorporating expensive ingredients. The line features three Coperion
K-Tron metering systems designed for very low throughputs, enabling the extruder to operate with additive materials at metering rates as low as 20
ml/hour. In addition, the ZSK 18 Megalab features a longer extruder barrel and is rated for high-temperature applications. “We have acquired the new laboratory
extruder for both current and future research work,” said the IKT’s director Professor Dr Christian Bonten. “Our work is focused in particular on complex reactive systems, the compounding of high-temperature materials and highly filled polymers.”
With its acquisition of the new ZSK 18 Megalab, the IKT now has four Coperion ZSK twin-screw extruders at its disposal. ❙
www.ikt.uni-stuttgart.de ❙
www.coperion.com
January 2015 | COMPOUNDING WORLD 5
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