US-based Teknor Apex Company has completed the acquisition of Viking Polymers, a custom compounder with a diversified portfolio of speciality formulations and an extensive involvement in rigid PVC and related materials for building and construction. The amount of the deal was undisclosed.

The purchase agreement was with Viking Polymers owner and president John Ammondson, who founded the company in 1994 and will now serve as a consultant to Teknor Apex. Based in Jamestown, Viking Polymers has a nominal annual compounding capacity of 23,000 tonnes. The acquired business will be part of the Teknor Apex Vinyl Division, and will continue to operate in Jamestown and retain all employees, according to Louis R. Cappucci, Teknor Apex Vice President and Head of the Vinyl Division.

“While most of the business of the Vinyl Division of Teknor Apex has historically centered on flexible compounds, rigid PVC plays an increasingly important role in our continued growth,” said Cappucci. “The acquisition of Viking Polymers adds substantially to our rigid PVC capabilities and represents a natural extension of our product portfolio into weatherable capstocks, CPVC compounds, and other specialties for the fast-growing building and construction market.”

The chief applications for CPVC (chlorinated polyvinyl chloride) include hot and cold potable water systems and industrial piping. PVC, ASA, acrylic and alloys are custom formulated for applications ranging from house siding, windows, decks, railings, rainwater systems, and fences.

“The weatherable compounds that we have developed at Viking Polymers make possible dark and wood-toned colours that withstand prolonged outdoor exposure,” said Ammondson. “With the growing trend in outdoor living, these compounds offer attractive, low maintenance alternatives to wood in standard building applications.”

There are similarities between Viking Polymers and Teknor Apex: both companies are privately held with solid reputations and have developed their own proprietary compounding technologies, but at the same time, they differ in ways that hold promise for productive synergy, said Ammondson. He also added that the Teknor Apex sales force will “uncover new business opportunities for the special technologies” the company has developed, and that the “global reach of Teknor Apex will introduce to the world marketplace a range of Viking Polymers products whose application so far has been limited to the US market.”