The British technology group, TI Group Plc (50 Curzon Street, GB-London WIY ZPN), is showing no signs of halting its acquisition activities. Having strengthened its plastic fuel tanks and fuel lines operations with the US company, Walbro Corp, in spring 1999 (see PIE 09, 1999), TI is now also taking over the Busak + Shamban Gruppe (Germany: Handwerkstr. 5-7, D-70565 Stuttgart).

Busak + Shamban is one of the leading players in the design, production and marketing of PTFE sealing systems and bearing materials. With 1,900 employees and 12 production facilities worldwide, the Group achieved sales in fiscal 1998/99 of GBP 145m. TI is planning to merge Busak + Shamban with its subsidiary, Forsheda. Forsheda is a leading manufacturer of elastomer seals. The two companies had pro-forma sales in 1998 of GBP 400m. The new group will have 7,000 employees at over 50 sites throughout the world. The respective brand names will be retained, but the operations will be reorganised in a new TI division under the name “Specialty Polymer Products”. According to TI, this division will be the clear number two on the world market for polymer seals.