As part of its global growth strategy, Ascend Performance Materials has completed acquisition of Italian firms Poliblend and Esseti Plast. With this, Ascend has expanded its portfolio into other engineered plastics, recycled resins and masterbatches. The acquisition also includes Poliblend Deutschland, a distribution facility located in Germany.

“Poliblend and Esseti Plast complement our current business exceptionally well,” said John Saunders, Ascend’s vice president of Europe. “Our experience as a large-scale, fully integrated polyamide 66 manufacturer coupled with Poliblend’s portfolio of recycled and virgin PA66, PA6 and POM, and Esseti Plast’s extensive masterbatch operations will offer our customers more choices for quality, high performance materials on a global scale.”

As part of the purchase, Ascend has established its second production facility in Europe.

“This acquisition, coupled with our new compounding facility in China, will allow us to serve our customers locally around the globe,” said 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. “I am extremely grateful to Poliblend’s leadership and our team in Europe for navigating unprecedented circumstances to ensure this deal closed,” said McDivitt. “The safety and health of our people is our highest priority.”

Ascend Performance Materials makes high-performance materials for everyday essentials and new technologies. Its focus is on improving quality of life and inspiring a better tomorrow through innovation. Based in Houston, Texas, and with regional offices in Shanghai, Brussels and Detroit, the company is a fully integrated material solutions provider with eight global manufacturing facilities in the United States, Europe and China.