Increasing its presence “at a beneficial and opportune time in the UK housing market,” US engineered materials and construction components producer Quanex Building Products (Houston, Texas / USA; www.quanex.com) in mid-June acquired UK window and door components producer HL Plastics (Denby / UK; www.hlplastics.co.uk). The USD 145m acquisition of what it called “the United Kingdom’s fastest-growing vinyl profile extruder” will help the US group leverage its existing presence in the country, obtained through its 2011 purchase of Edgetech. UK civil engineering works are expected to increase by 4.5% both this year and next, a recent study by Euroconstruct (www.euroconstruct.org) predicts – see Plasteurope.com of 11.02.2015.

Under the deal, which also includes affiliates Wegoma Machinery Sales and Vintage Windows, HL’s leadership is to remain in place. The UK producer specialises in vinyl extrusion, generating more than 85% of its revenues from its “Liniar” brand of extrusions for windows, doors and conservatories. The remaining revenue comes from extrusions for fencing, decking, water retention barriers and the like.

HL Plastics was founded in 1974 and has a workforce of about 150. The company was acquired by Tessenderlo in 1998, but its founders repurchased the group in 2005 and proceeded to build a new plant in Denby.

Quanex expects the acquisition to lift revenues by about USD 100m from 2016 onwards. The group, which operates 22 plants in the US as well as one each in the UK and Germany, posted sales of USD 600m in 2014.