January 15 (plastemart.com) --
BASF has sold its Aurora-brand specialty films business to start-up investor RMS Packaging.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. RMS – owned by investor Sheldon Rosenberg and his father, Reuben – will operate the 12-employee business at a
BASF facility in Peekskill, New York.
BASF will continue to own the facility, where it also makes pigments.
The purchase includes four manufacturing lines. Aurora films are based on polyester, polycarbonate, oriented
polypropylene and other resins and are sold into packaging, labels, displays, gift wrap and household goods. The special-effect, iridescent films can be used alone or with other films, graphics, background colours or embossing.
“We see this as a good business opportunity,” Sheldon Rosenberg said. “Markets for these products are growing and there’s a good technological foundation here.”
Rosenberg added that his family has experience in the plastic film market, but he declined to provide details.
The specialty films business was started in Peekskill by Mearl in 1976 and later sold to Engelhard. BASF acquired the business in 2006.
For
BASF, the sale is part of the firm’s ongoing portfolio review and represents “another step in our process to realign our business to ensure long-term profitable growth”, dispersions and pigments group vice president Uwe Liebelt said in a news release.
McGladrey Capital Markets acted as financial advisor to BASF on the deal.
