Japan’s Ube Industries, Ltd. has acquired a majority stake Spanish compounder Repol S.L. through its subsidiary UBE Corporation Europe S.A.U. (UCE), which acquired a majority of the shares of Repol at the end of March 2019. Established in 1975, Repol operates a plant in Almazora, Castellón Province, and has 61 employees.
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| Ube’s acquisition of Repol gives the firm a strong presence in PA injection molding compounds. |
Repol operates a compounding business in Europe using polyamide (PA) 6, PA 66, polypropylene, polyacetal, polycarbonate, PBT and other resin raw materials. These compounds are mainly used for automobiles but are also broadly used in industrial materials and for the electrical and electronics industries. The company’s brands include Dinalon PA, Dinaplen PP, Dinanax PC, and Dinatron PPS.
Ube Industries has positioned its PA 6 business as an active growth business and is currently strengthening its activities in the market for extrusion applications, where the company has a competitive edge. At the same time, Ube Industries is expanding the scope of the PA 6 business in the market for injection molding applications.
The acquisition establishes a complementary relationship in the PA 6 business while also giving Ube Industries access to Repol’s compound technologies and product development capabilities for non-PA resins. Additionally, Repol’s recycling technologies are anticipated to be an asset to future business development amid tightening environmental regulation of plastic packaging materials.
UCE operates an existing compound plant and through the acquisition, Ube Industries gains an additional base of operations in Europe, which is leading the world in the use of plastics for vehicle weight reduction. Ube Industries will also seek to realize synergies with its existing manufacturing operations in Japan and Thailand. This will further accelerate the development of the company’s compound business for injection applications in the automotive sector and other industries, not only in Europe but extending to the Transatlantic region and Asia.
