Almost 10 years after Hexpol embarked on a prolonged growth-by-acquisition strategy, here Tyres & Accessories examines the company’s overall progress as well as the particular example of UK-based Hexpol Group member, retreading compound supply specialist Berwin Polymers.
During the first quarter of 2019, Hexpol announced a couple of senior management changes. Most recently, at the end of February, Karin Gunnarsson decided to leave her position as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Investor Relations Manager at the Hexpol Group in pursuit of “new challenges”:
Lehigh Technologies has won the Young Global Leaders Award for Circular Economy SME (small to medium-sized enterprise) for The Circulars 2019, the 5th iteration of the award, in Davos at the World Economic Forum on 21 January 2019.
On 1 October Hexpol completed the acquisition of 80 per cent of the shares of Italian compounder Mesgo Group from previous owner Francesco Caldara and co-owners. Hexpol describes Mesgo as “an industry leader in high performance elastomers as fluorocarbons and silicone”. In addition, Mesgo also specializes in conventional rubber compounds and thermoplastics. The major customer segments Mesgo focuses on are industry, consumer products, transportation and automotive. Mesgo Group reports annual turnover of around 100 million euros, with around 180 employees in six facilities.
Pinpointing precisely where a winter tyre comes into contact with an icy road surface is surprisingly difficult. Yokohama Rubber partnered with Kanazawa University in Japan to identify this oft-allusive point of contact, and in a statement reports the development of an “evaluation technology that visualises rubber’s frictional state of contact on an icy surface.” Yokohama Rubber expects this evaluation technology to ultimately result in cold weather tyres with dramatically improved ice performance.
Directa Plus plc, a producer and supplier of graphene-based products for use in consumer and industrial markets, announces that the Ufficio Brevetti e Marchi (Italian Patent and Trademark Office) has granted the Company a patent for the product and application of its new graphene-based solution for enhancing the performance of tyres. Specifically, the patent covers Directa Plus’ ‘elastomeric composition comprising graphene and tyre components comprising said composition’.
Continental has begun making ContiTread pre-cure tread rubber in the USA. A new pre-cured tread manufacturing facility at the tyre maker’s Mound Vernon plant in Illinois has commenced production of the tread compound, and Continental anticipates that the facility will reach full operation by the end of the first quarter of 2018.
The Pirelli plant in Breuberg, Germany is considered one of the company’s leading sites for the production of ultra-high performance tyres, and to cement the factory’s position a new investment is being made in equipment and facilities. Through this investment of an undisclosed sum, the tyre maker is setting up a new rubber compound processing facility in Breuberg.
Just three days after buying Trelleborg’s Czech compounding operation, on 3 April Hexpol announced it has signed an agreement to acquire the business of Valley Processing from Ted Ballou and his family. The acquisition price amounts to approximately US$44 million on a cash and debt free basis. There will also be an additional product transfer fee, which will be paid later.
Hexpol has today acquired 100 per cent of Trelleborg Material & Mixing Lesina s.r.o from the Trelleborg Group. The divested operation develops, produces and supplies polymer compounds. The majority of its sales are to external customers and a minor share to a small number of Trelleborg facilities in Europe.
On Friday 3 June Swedish firm Hexpol bought 100 per cent of the Berwin Group Ltd shareholders Glyn Williams and his family for around £25 million. Berwin has more than 60 years’ experience of rubber compounding and is a leading Rubber Compounder in the UK market.
During a visit to China last week, Thailand’s Minister of Industry, Atchaka Sibunruang, and representatives from the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand visited the Zhaoyuan headquarters of Shangdong Linglong Tire and the tyre maker’s exhibition space at the China Qingdao International Tire Fair. A meeting also took place on 8 April between the Authority and Shandong Linglong chairman Wang Feng; this resulted in the signing of a letter of intent that will see the tyre maker increase its investment in Thailand through initiating the third phase of its Linglong International Tire (Thailand) plant project, the installation of a rubber compounding facility at the Rayong province site.
Bandvulc has announced plans to launch a new range of its remanufactured tyres in 2015 based on a new compound designed in-house by Bandvulc Mixing. According to the company, Bandvulc will launch a series of new sizes this year. And this is all said to be in addition to the firm’s venture into van tyre production.
Hexpol has agreed to acquire well known US rubber compounding firm Kardoes Rubber Co. from company founder Frank Kardoes and his family for US$31.8 million. According to Hexpol, the acquisition price will be paid on a cash and debt free basis and is funded by a combination of cash and existing bank facilities. The acquisition price will be paid upon completion of the acquisition which is estimated to take place at the end of July. The business is expected to be consolidated from August 2014.
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