US carbon black and masterbatch specialist Cabot (Boston, Massachusetts; www.cabot-corp.com) has agreed to acquire Canada’s largest black masterbatch producer Tech Blend (Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec; www.techblend.com) for about USD 64m. The Boston company said the new addition, which will be managed as part of Cabot’s speciality compounds business within the Performance Chemicals segment, will strengthen its formulations capabilities. Tech Blend’s products are aimed at applications in the automotive, infrastructure and agricultural industries. The transaction is expected to close by the end of November.

“This bolt-on acquisition is a great example of our ‘Advancing the Core’ strategy,” said Cabot CEO Sean Keohane. The US company currently operates four black masterbatch manufacturing facilities in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. With Tech Blend it will extend its North American presence into Canada as well as broaden its global manufacturing footprint, Keohane said, while adding that the purchase will also bolster Cabot’s position in the plastics value chain as both a supplier of speciality carbon blacks and black masterbatches and compounds. Management expects the acquisition to generate synergies from purchasing, new product introduction and expansion of global accounts.