Ascend expands portfolio with new acquisitions

As part of its global growth strategy, Ascend Performance Materials has completed its acquisition of Italian firms Poliblend and Esseti Plast. With this purchase, Ascend expands its portfolio into other engineered plastics, recycled resins and masterbatches.

John Saunders, Ascend’s vice president of Europe said that Poliblend and Esseti Plast complement Ascend’s current business exceptionally well. As Ascend is a large-scale, fully integrated polyamide 66 manufacturer, the addition of Poliblend’s portfolio of recycled and virgin PA66, PA6 and POM, and Esseti Plast’s extensive masterbatch operations will offer customers more choices for quality, high performance materials on a global scale.

As part of the purchase, Ascend establishes its second production facility in Europe. The acquisition also includes Poliblend Deutschland, a distribution facility located in Germany.

“This acquisition, coupled with our new compounding facility in China, will allow us to serve our customers locally around the globe,” Phil McDivitt, Ascend’s president and CEO. “We now have production, product development and testing capabilities in North America, Asia and Europe, giving us additional scale to respond to our customers. Furthermore, a product developed for a customer in Europe can be quickly replicated and produced across the globe to meet shifting supply chain needs.”

Announced in February 2020, the acquisition was put on hold as COVID-19 cases spiked in Italy and then in the United States.