British Vita (GB-Manchester; www.britishvita.com) has bought the thermoplastic elastomer compounding business of Nolato Elastoteknik (S-662 22 Amal; www.nolato.se) for a cash sum of SEK 76m (about EUR 8,2m). It will form part of the Vita Thermoplastic Compounds business (VTC), complementing the existing “Vitaprene” TPE operations in the medical, electronics and automotive markets.

Located some 150km north-east of Gothenburg, Nolato Elastoteknik employs 34 staff and has ISO 9001 and ISO 140001 certification. It had a turnover in 2001 of SEK 90m (about EUR 9,7m) and an operating profit of SEK 8m (about EUR 867,000). Its SBS/SEBS compounds have been sold under the Dryflex branding.

“I am delighted that we have been able to acquire such a high quality manufacturing business with strong market leadership in the Nordic region,” said Vita´s Industrial Polymers Director, Calvon O´Connor. “Elastoteknik is complementary to our existing UK business and gives us a superb range of products for both the injection moulding and extrusion industries.”

The acquisition of Elastoteknik strengthens VTC´s presence in thermoplastic elastomers, especially in the automotive market, in a sector best known for the “Kraton” materials licensed by Shell. The deal comes shortly after VTC sold Vitacom, its traditional rubber compounding business, to a management buy-out (see Plasteurope.com 1, 2002).

Companies in Vita´s compounding business include Jackdaw Polymers, Elian, Doeflex Vitapol, JGP Perrite and Silvergate. JGP Perrite (Woolston, Warrington, GB - Cheshire WA1 4RA) is VTC´s technical compounding division. It plans to close its plant at Washington, Tyne and Wear by the middle of this year, transferring four lines to its Warrington headquarters. This will provide a combined capacity of 20 kt/y, processing PP, ABS, polycarbonate and PC/ABS blends.