AirBoss expands rubber compounding capabilities with US acquisition

Newmarket, Ontario – AirBoss of America Corp. is acquiring US-based rubber compounder Ace Elastomer, Inc. for an agreed price of $42 million (€36 million) in cash, the company announced 18 Aug.

Based in Rock Hill, South Carolina, Ace has rubber compounding facilities in Rock Hill and Chicago, Illinois.

To be integrated as part of AirBoss Rubber Solutions (ARS), Ace will bring "proprietary" colour and speciality rubber compounding capacity, complementing AirBoss’ 2019 investments in the technologies in Kitchener, Ontario.

The acquisition, said AirBoss, will significantly accelerate the ARS strategy to expand from traditional black, high volume product lines into lower volume but higher margin colour and speciality markets

Furthermore, it expands the rubber solution’s reach into the US south and mid-west markets.

According to AirBoss, the two companies have ‘minimal overlap’ in customer-base, which enhances opportunities for revenue synergies.

In addition, the acquisition of Ace is expected to establish a “market leading position” for ARS in the rubber roll market.

Set for completion in the third quarter of 2021, the transaction is expected to have an immediate positive impact on earnings, AirBoss said.

Ace’s president, founder and majority owner, Russell Foster, and the existing management team will remain with Ace in their current capacities following the closing of the acquisition.

Ace provides design, formulation development, and custom mixing of elastomer compounds across the natural and synthetic polymer range. 

It offers a broad range of custom mix compounds for many industries including the roller, belting, and printing industries and for custom moulding and extrusion applications.

“Ace specialises in coloured rubber compounds, a key focus area of growth for ARS,” said Chris Bitsakakis, president and COO of AirBoss.

The acquisition, he said, is expected to “propel AirBoss into a market leading position in colour and speciality compounding while providing immediate access to a customer-base in key targeted regional US markets.” 

Bitsakakis also signalled further plans to expand AirBoss through mergers & acquisitions.

“We will continue to assess further M&A opportunities that can complement our organic growth strategy by accelerating penetration of our colour and speciality compounding business into key US markets.”