Recticel buys FoamPartner

BRUSSELS—Recticel is to purchase FoamPartner from its Swiss owner Conzzeta, in a deal set to close in the first quarter of 2021.

Conzzeta put FoamPartner up for sale in December 2019.

No price for the deal was given, but Recticel said the business has an enterprise value of $319 million, with $23.6 million to be payable in January 2021. At $319 million, the value is about 8.6 times the business EBITDA in the latest financial year.

Recticel is funding the purchase with a three-year loan. This can be extended by up to two more years.

"(The deal) marks an important step in our strategic portfolio reorientation," Reticel CEO Olivier Chapelle said. "This is a unique opportunity to expand its product offering in technical and specialty foams, and it increases our reach in Asia and North America."

He expects the acquisition to start contributing to margins during the first year of its ownership. There should also be savings of around $16.5 million in the first year, and $11.7 million each year afterward.

"As part of Recticel, we'll gain access to additional resources," said Michael Riedel, FoamPartner's CEO. "I am proud of our whole team and our recent progress."

The business will fit with Recticel's existing flexible foams division. It will be part of a new engineered foam division.

With the acquisition, Recticel gains three sites in North America.

At Rochester Hills, Michigan, the FoamPartner business makes flexible blocks and systems for molded foam. The deal also includes converting and sales operations in Greer and Piedmont, both in South Carolina.

In the Far East, the deal will give Recticel a foam production plant in Changzhou, Jiangsu. Sales offices in Shanghai and Singapore also are included.

The Swiss conglomerate Conzzeta is refocusing its business on metal processing. In the first half of 2020, the division that included FoamPartner generated sales of $132 million and its EBIT was $1.85 million.

Recticel's foam business had sales of $173 million in the first half of 2020, and adjusted EBITDA of $12.1 million.