Ascend Performance Materials has announced plans to purchase a compounding facility in San Jose Iturbide, Mexico, growing its global footprint and expanding production capacity for high-performance engineered materials. The purchase agreement includes the assets of DM Color Mexicana, a joint venture between Japanese compounder Dainichiseika and trading house Mitsubishi Corp. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2022.

“We continue to invest in and grow our engineered materials business with a focus on regional production,” said Phil McDivitt, Ascend President and CEO. “This acquisition establishes our footprint in Latin America and allows us to produce our world-class materials closer to our global customers.”

A fully integrated producer of durable engineered materials, Ascend has grown its global production footprint with four acquisitions over the last three years.

“We remain committed to supporting our customers’ growth and innovation through continued investments in our global manufacturing footprint, the development of new materials, and enhanced technical services and support,” said Senior Vice President, Polyamides, Isaac Khalil. Details of the deal were not disclosed.

Dainichiseika’s compounding operations are mainly located in Asia, with three sites in Asia, and one each in India, Thailand, and Vietnam in addition to its plants in Japan. The company also operates a 50,000-tonnes/year compounding plant at subsidiary Plalloy MTD B.V. in the Netherlands.

Image: DM Color Mexicana