Trinseo Expands into Soft-Touch Polymers Through Acquisition

Trinseo, Berwyn, Penn. (previously Styron), is making its first acquisition and will broaden its portfolio of performance plastics by adding soft-touch polymers. Expected to be complete by end of third quarter, the acquisition is of Italy’s API Applicazioni Plastiche Industriali S.p.A. President and CEO Chris Pappas said this acquisition is directly aligned with the company’s strategy to grow its performance materials businesses and will benefit customers across a breadth of market applications and geographies.

Lorenzo Brunetti, v.p. and son of the founder of API—a 60-year old company, sees the transaction with Trinseo as a natural evolution of its long-standing experience, reputation, and flexibility in TPEs, now combining with the stability, energy and global presence of Trinseo. The company’s products include TPEs, TPUs, EVA-based compounds, and two-component PU, as well as a portfolio of bioplastics. Trinseo’s rigid plastics have a strong position in automotive, medical and consumer markets, and API’s soft-tough TPE products are often used together with rigid plastics in similar applications, points out Hayati Yarkadas, sr. v.p. and business president for Performance Plastics.