Ascend Performance Materials (Houston, Texas / USA; www.ascendmaterials.com) has acquired engineering thermoplastics compounder Britannia Techno Polymer (BTP, Tilburg / The Netherlands; www.btpolymer.com) for an undisclosed sum. Phil McDivitt, president and CEO of Ascend, said the buy will give the US company its first European manufacturing base as well as expand its global compounding capacity for PA 6.6. Ascend bills itself as the largest fully integrated producer of PA 6.6 resin.

Up to now, the Dutch company founded in 2006 and specialising in PA 6, PA 6.6 and PA 6.6/6 copolymer as well as ABS, PC, and PP compounds has been the European toll compounder for Ascend – see Plasteurope.com of 01.11.2016. All of BTP’s employees will transfer immediately to the new owner, and BTP founder Andy Leigh will join the Ascend global management team as director of compounding technology. “We have a long relationship with BTP and look forward to realising greater operational efficiency and experience,” said John Saunders, Ascend’s European leader.