U.S. flexible foam makers FXI and Innocor Inc. will merge to create a polyurethane company that can supply customers in the transportation, bedding, furniture, medical and other sectors.
Private equity company One Rock Capital Partners, controls FXI , based in Media, Pa., and Bain Capital is the majority shareholder of Red Bank, N.J.-based Innocor. Neither company would reveal financial details or share information about their ownership stakes in the combined company.
FXI has 16 manufacturing and distribution facilities in the U.S. and employs 2,200. Innocor employs around 1,800 and has 21 factories and distribution centers. Innocor's products are sold under the Sleep Innovations and Novaform brand names.
FXI CEO Harold Early will head the combined firm.
"We will be able to offer customers enhanced manufacturing and (research and development) capabilities and reduced delivery times through of our enhanced footprint," he said in a March 5 news release.
Innocor's CEO Bill Redmond will sit on the board of the new firm, which has yet to be named.
The transaction, financed through debt, is expected to close in the second half of 2019, subject to regulatory approvals.
According to the companies' websites, there is very little geographic overlap between the plants. Aside from Mississippi, where both companies have a plant in Tupelo, there are only two states where there are plants in close proximity: California and Indiana.
In California, FXI's plant in Orange is about 60 miles from Innocor's San Bernadino site.
In Indiana, Innocor's plant in Elkhart is roughly 66 miles from FXI's plant in Fort Wayne, and about the same distance away from FXI's plant in Auburn.
FXI has plants in: Auburn.; Cornelius, N.C.; Corry, Pa.; Aurora, Colo.; East Rutherford, N.J.; Fort Wayne, Ind.; Houston; Kent, Wash.; Omaha, Neb.; Orange; Portland, Ore.; San Leandro, Calif.; Santa Teresa, N.M.; and Tupelo. It also has two sites in Mexico.
Innocor plants are in: Red Bank; San Bernardino; Miami; Dublin, Ga.; Dubuque, Iowa; West Chicago, Ill.; Elkhart; Newburyport, Mass.; Lebanon, Mo.; Baldwyn, Coldwater, and Tupelo, Miss.; High Point, N.C.; Spencerville, Ohio; Archbald and Dunmore, Pa.; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Brenham and Terrell, Texas.; Longview, Wash.; and Portage, Wis.