By Frank Esposito
SENIOR STAFF REPORTER
Published: October 15, 2014 12:29 pm ET
Updated: October 15, 2014 12:35 pm ET

Image By: Plastics News photo/Caroline Seidel
Lingnau

FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, GERMANY — Materials maker A. Schulman Inc. announced a specialty compounding deal during Fakuma.

Under the deal, Fairlawn, Ohio-based Schulman will produce, sell and distribute Ecotran-brand compounds based on polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) resins made by Initz Co. Ltd. of South Korea. The deal covers Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas.

Initz is a joint venture between SK Chemicals Co. Ltd. of South Korea (66 percent) and Teijin Ltd. of Japan (34 percent).

Adding PPS compounds to Schulman’s portfolio is “a milestone” that provides Schulman with “a unique selling point,” Horst Klink said Oct. 15 at Fakuma. Klink is the firm’s engineering plastics director in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Schulman will make the PPS compounds at three locations worldwide, including one in the U.S., Europe/Middle East/Africa vice president and general manager Heinrich Lingnau said Oct. 15.

Schulman’s European business also is benefiting from the addition of a former Ferro Corp. plant in Castellon, Spain, according to masterbatch solutions director Frank Roederer. The plant makes masterbatch concentrates for the film market and fills a geographic gap for Schulman, Roederer said Oct. 15.

Roederer added that Schulman has “a fantastic opportunity” with its new Innovex-brand masterbatch, which is a nucleating agent used in the production of food trays made from expanded polystyrene. The material offers weight reduction and improved dimensional stability.

Schulman has made 10 acquisitions in the last four years, including two of firms passed in Europe — Perrite Group of Warrington, England, and Elian SAS of Oyonnax, France. More such deals may be in the firm’s future.

“We’re always trying to extend growth through acquisition if we can find a strategic fit,” Lingnau said. “And Europe is part of the game.”

Also at Fakuma, Schulman has been spotlighting grades of its Schulamid-brand nylon compounds, Ronfalin-brand polycarbonate/ABS compounds, Schulaketon-brand aliphatic polyketone compounds and Cotene-brand coating powders.

Schulman employs 3,800 at 43 global sites and posted sales of $2.1 billion in its 2013 fiscal year.