Teknor Apex acquires German compounder Plastic Technologie Service

Material supplier Teknor Apex Company has acquired Plastic Technologie Service (PTS), a German-based custom compounder of TPEs and engineering thermoplastics.

The financial terms of the deal have not been announced.

PTS operates a manufacturing plant at Steinsfeld, Germany with more than 20,000 tons of installed capacity, as well as a technical support facility. The company has more than 100 employees.

“PTS is well known for innovation and is the European leader in developing ‘hard/soft’ solutions that combine elastomers with rigid polymers,” said Suresh Swaminathan, senior vice president in charge of the global TPE business of Pawtucket, R.I.-based Teknor Apex. “They will bring to our partnership a range of unique technologies and service capabilities.”

Among proprietary specialties of PTS is a hard/soft technology for over-molding TPEs onto polar ETP substrates, such as nylon and acetal, and producing a durable bond. Another specialty is radiation-crosslinked grades of ETPs and TPEs.

For the past year, PTS has manufactured TPE and ETP compounds for Teknor Apex under a tolling agreement. Now the PTS compounding facility at Steinsfeld becomes the second manufacturing site in Europe for Teknor Apex, which already compounds TPEs at a facility in Genk, Belgium. Teknor Apex also produces compounds at locations in the U.S., Singapore, and China.

“The acquisition of PTS is a natural fit in the strategic vision of Teknor Apex to support the market with a global footprint and local presence,” said Jonathan Fain, Chairman and CEO of Teknor Apex. “It also brings together two companies that have shared the unique culture of being privately owned and intensively customer-centered.”

PTS was founded in 1986 by Uwe Stenglin, who will continue in his role as managing director. As a subsidiary of Teknor Apex, PTS will continue to supply products under its existing brands.