Lion Elastomers buys assets from East West Copolymer

BATON ROUGE, La.—Lion Copolymer Services L.L.C. has purchased assets of the Baton Rouge-based East West Copolymer L.L.C., which announced bankruptcy in April.

The company, which is a part of Lion Copolymer Holdings and a sister company of Lion Elastomers, said June 2 that the sale was approved in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Louisiana on may 19 and the transaction closed on May 26.

East West Copolymer, a manufacturer of styrene-butadiene rubber and nitrile-butadiene rubber, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection before the Middle District of Louisiana court on April 7.

The company, which began life as the Copolymer Corp. in 1943, closed its doors March 31 after operating at the same Baton Rouge plant for 74 years.

About 110 employees were laid off.

Lion Elastomers is currently reviewing the condition of the assets, which were set up in 1943 and built by the U.S. government during World War II.

The site, according to a June 2 statement, will be decommissioned and will remain idled while Lion Elastomers evaluates its strategic options.