Benvic completes acquisition of Celanese’s Ferrara Marconi compounding business

Benvic has announced that the acquisition of the compounding facilities owned by Celanese in Ferrara, Italy, first disclosed in January 2021, has now been successfully concluded. An agreement was reached with all stakeholders involved, including trade unions and relevant local authorities, on 1 July. Under the terms of the agreement, Benvic will also take over 33 of Celanese’s employees at the facility.

The purchase marks the company’s eighth acquisition in the course of a buying spree that kicked off with the takeover of VinyLoop - also located in Ferrara -  in 2018.

Celanese originally acquired the Ferrara Marconi facilities when it purchased SO.F.TER Group an Italy-headquartered thermoplastic compounder in 2016.

Last year, Texas-based Celanese had already said that it planned to transition the compounding operations from its Ferrara Marconi, Italy; and Wehr and Kaiserslautern, Germany sites, to its Forli, Italy facility, where it will establish a European compounding center of excellence. Consolidation of the compounding operations is expected to be completed by 2022.

For Benvic, the acquisition further expands its presence in Ferrara and strengthens its portfolio outside the PVC-based engineering polymer compounding sector. The company says it will continue to invest in the Ferrara Marconi site, to grow this into one of the largest compound production sites in Italy.

“The acquisition will enable us to further expand our investments in our Ferrara plant where we had already implemented a new bio-polymer line in 2019,” said Luc Mertens, CEO of Benvic Group.

The acquisition includes operations and assets related to artificial turf infill and polypropylene compounds for the home appliance industry, and compounds for the European footwear industry.

“This purchase strengthens our technical polymers division and confirms Benvic as a leading player in the production of innovative thermoplastic solutions in Europe,” said Mertens. “We had two priorities in the close cooperation with the management of Celanese: the commitment to continue the relationships and partnerships established by Celanese and its teams with its customers and suppliers, and the protection of employment."

Founded in 1963, Benvic became part of the family-run Italian investment fund Investindustrial in 2018. Five of the eight acquisitions made since 2018 have been in Italy: in addition to the investments in Ferrara (Vinyloop and Celanese's compounding activities), Benvic acquired Plantura, a leader in the production of biopolymers in 2019; expanded into the medical sector through the acquisition of Modenplast, in 2019, and Luc & Bel, specialised in the design and manufacture of complex medical components under Class 8 cleanroom conditions, in 2020. Benvic has also acquired Poland-based Alfa PVC, Ereplast, in France, and Dugdale Ltd, in the UK during this same period.