Xerium buys roll coverer Coldwater Covers

By Liz White, ERJ staff

Westborough, Massachusetts-Xerium Technologies Inc., which owns roll coverer Stowe Woodward, announced 22 Feb that it had bought polyurethane roll coverer Coldwater Covers Inc. for $6.8 million (Euros 5.7 million), from privately held Coldwater Group Inc. of Atlanta, Georgia.

Xerium is a leading manufacturer of the textile belts and polymeric roll covers, as well as the metal rolls, used in paper production. In the transaction, Xerium subsidiary Stowe Woodward llc acquired Coldwater Covers' equity and its manufacturing facility in Oxford, Alabama. The purchase price of about $6.8 million is subject to certain adjustments, Xerium's statement said.

Coldwater Covers makes polyurethane and composite roll covers and bowed rolls, primarily for the paper industry, said Xerium. The company also provides mechanical services for rolls both for paper making and other industrial uses. The Coldwater Group has kept its Coldwater Seals Inc. unit, which makes suction-roll sealing strips and drainage elements for paper machinery.

"The Coldwater Covers business is an ideal extension to the line of roll covers and mechanical services that we provide through the global operations of our Stowe Woodward division," said Tom Gutierrez, Xerium's president and chief executive officer, in the company statement. Gutierrez noted that Coldwater Covers has "brought to market several new and innovative roll cover technologies" and has a "strong reputation for quality and customer service."

Xerium Technologies Inc., which had turnover for 2005 of $582 million, used to be the paper technology group of former major UK rubber grouping BTR Industries. The paper group was sold to a private equity group by BTR successor Invensys, and now runs 36 plants in 15 countries, and employs about 3900 people globally, largely in North America and Europe.

Westborough-headquartered Stowe Woodward supplies roll covers, bowed rolls and manufacturing services for the pulp and paper industry, and makes rubber and PU roll coverings for other industries. The company claims to deliver "leading edge technology in rubber, polyurethane, ceramic and composite covers."