Family-run adhesives maker Reynolds Co. said it will be ``business as usual'' despite its takeover by an international conglomerate.
Itochu International Inc. of New York completed the purchase of the Greenville-based manufacturer April 30. Customers probably won't notice the difference, the firm said, since it retained the Reynolds name; John A. ``Lex'' Reynolds remains at the helm, with his brother Neel Reynolds as vice president of manufacturing; and its 100 employees stay on the job.
The company also will continue to produce its lines of water-based, hot-melt and dry-blended adhesives and coatings.
Unlike many businesses that sell because of financial troubles, Reynolds said it was prospering and the change in ownership was spurred by the needs of the five family members who were stockholders in the 28-year-old company. ``There were family issues that were satisfied best by what we did,'' said Lex Reynolds, president and CEO of the company founded by his father.
``We weren't looking for a buyer,'' he said. Rather, he knew someone at Helmitin Adhesives, a subsidiary of Itochu, and began talking a year ago about a potential buyout.
Reynolds said Itochu's hands-off management style with Helmitin motivated the family to seek a sale.
With sales at less than $100 million, Reynolds Co. joins a conglomerate with more than $18 billion in revenues. Itochu International is the North American arm of Japanese trading giant Itochu Corp., which manages a gamut of offerings, including tires, textiles, building products and railcar construction.
Its subsidiary companies include Am-Pac Tire Distributors, fencing material maker Master-Halco, PrimeSource Building Products and textile distributor Textile Impressions.
The parties said Reynolds will operate as a separate company within the Itochu Chemical Group, a distributor of chemical products, and merge its operations with Canadian subsidiary Helmitin Adhesives, which has operations in Toronto and Olive Branch, Miss.
Reynolds said the merger won't duplicate but rather complement both companies' operations. Reynolds Co. manufactures adhesives and glues for the paper and packaging, automotive, product assembly, manufactured housing, textile and nonwovens industries.
Helmitin produces specialty adhesives for the furniture and woodworking, automotive and transportation, foam fabrication, construction and footwear industries.