The German company has acquired a US extrusion business

The German company has acquired a US extrusion business

German plastic sheet and rod maker Simona has moved into the US market with the acquisition of HPG International's extrusion unit, based at Mountaintop, Pennsylvania. Sold under the Versadur brand, its products include industrial sheet in PVC, HDPE, PP, as well as CPVC and PVdF for the chemicals and engineering sector.

The business will become part of the newly established Simona America. Production will be moved to the company’s own facility during the course of next year. HPG, which has just emerged from nearly two years under bankruptcy protection, will now focus on flexible products. So far this year sales in calendered film have reached $54m (E44m). Its polymer consumption approaches 30,000tpa.

Simona generated around 55% of its E173m turnover from sales outside its German market. Employing 1,000 people, the company made a pre-tax profit of E12.4m last year.