Irish plastics industry supplier bought for up to €25m

A Dublin-based company involved in the distribution of engineered polymers to the plastics industry has been acquired by a business owned by US private equity giant HIG Capital in a deal estimated to be worth as much as €25 million.

Total Polymer Solutions (TPS) was set up in late 2002 by Ronan Kennedy and Eamonn Keane, who will remain invested and involved in the business after its purchase by Illinois-headquartered Formerra. The deal is seen as establishing a foothold in the European market for the US group.

TPS specialises in supplying polymer materials and technologies for the manufacturing of plastics used in the healthcare, consumer, transportation and aerospace sectors.

HIG, which has $55 billion (€55.2 billion) of equity capital under management, acquired Formerra last year. The Irish deal broadens its reach into Ireland, Britain and continental Europe. TPS has worked with Formerra for more than a decade servicing Irish and UK-based manufacturing operations of multinational healthcare groups.

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“Total Polymer Solutions will enable Formerra to strengthen its global healthcare distribution platform while building on both companies’ shared capabilities around rapid product development, innovation, and regulatory support,” said Cathy Dodd, chief executive of Formerra.

“This acquisition enables us to better serve our global healthcare customers in Europe with streamlined supply chain management and faster go-to-market support, driving significant value for all stakeholders.”

Industry sources put a value of between €20 million and €25 million on the deal. Mr Kennedy and Mr Keane declined to comment on the consideration, while efforts to secure comment from Formerra were unsuccessful.

Formerra provides high-performance materials for the most critical healthcare applications, such as surgical instruments, drug delivery devices, medical equipment, wearables devices and remote patient monitoring.

Abridged 2022 accounts for TPS, filed recently with the Companies Registration Office, show that director remuneration at the company, including pension contributions, amounted to €1.35 million last year, down from €1.58 million for 2021. The company has a total of eight employees.

Formerra, formerly known as Avient Distribution, was bought by HIG Capital for $950 million last November.

“TPS is a highly complementary addition to Formerra that will allow the company to better serve the unique needs of customers in the dynamic healthcare and medical markets,” said Rob Jang, managing director at HIG. “We look forward to continuing to support Formerra’s growth journey through investments in specialty engineered materials and value-added service capabilities.”