Nolato (Toreskov / Sweden; www.nolato.se) said it has acquired the American plastics processor GW Plastics Inc (Bethel Vermont / USA; www.gwplastics.com) for SEK 2 bn (EUR 193m), making this the biggest purchase in the company's history. The acquisition of the manufacturer of plastic, silicone and TPE components for the healthcare, automotive and consumer electronics industries was completed at the beginning of September 2020, Nolato announced. The transaction has been announced in August 2020 (see Plasteurope.com of 17.08.2020).

The transaction brings the Swedish plastics processor 1,100 employees and seven new plants, four of them in the US (Bethel, Royalton, San Antonio and Tucson) and one each in Mexico (Querétaro), China (Dongguan) and Ireland (Sligo). CEO Christer Wahlquist is said to expect positive effects from the expansion of their global presence and planned synergies.

While many companies in the plastics industry are suffering during the Covid-19 pandemic, Nolato is seeing improvement. In the third quarter of 2020, the company reported a 26% increase in turnover to SEK 2.5 bn (EUR 240m). All three divisions, “Medical Solutions”, “Integrated Solutions” and “Industrial Solutions”, are said to have contributed to this growth. Adjusted EBITA (excluding non-recurring items of SEK -17m) grew 28% to SEK 304m (EUR 29.3m), and after-tax profit rose 13% to SEK 211m (EUR 20.3m).