Another week another industry buyout, this time involving Synseal. One the of UK’s largest system companies has acquired LB Plastics and Manse Masterdor, part of a company called the Litchfield Group. This was the statement they put out on their website:
Synseal has acquired the trade and operating assets of the Litchfield Group’s UK window & trade extrusion and door businesses, trading as LB Plastics Ltd and Manse Masterdor Ltd, for an undisclosed sum.Based at Nether Heage in Derbyshire, LB Plastics pioneered the use of PVC-U windows for the British market back in the 1970s and the company has been synonymous with high performance thermoplastics for the UK building industry ever since.
Operating production facilities registered to ISO.14001, LB Plastics predominantly supplies lead-free extruded PVC-U products to approved fabricators and installers, along with custom-designed extrusions to other building component suppliers. Product sales are backed by extensive technical support and in-house design and testing services, including a dedicated team focussed on delivery of housebuilding projects.
In addition to Sheerframe PVC-U windows, doors and curtain walling, the Litchfield Group’s UK window & trade extrusion and door product portfolio includes a broad range of solutions such as Hometrim cellular cladding, roofline and trims, Sheerline fencing and decking products, Thermlock thermally-enhanced window and door reinforcements and an extensive range of Masterdor residential door sets and Suredor GRP composite doors.
David Leng, Synseal’s Chief Executive, comments: “LB Plastics boasts a proud tradition having served the UK fenestration industry for more than 35 years offering established and proven products that have stood the test of time. This acquisition is a good fit to expand the scope of our business, as LB Plastics primarily supplies commercial market sectors with a full range of specification products which complement our market-leading Synseal solutions for residential and home improvement market applications. We will continue to invest in the proven and respected Sheerframe and Masterdor brands and, replicating business integration achievements following our major acquisition of K2 Conservatories in 2012, we will fully support the on-development of LB Plastics and Manse Masterdor product offerings and service logistics to strengthen these businesses for future success.”
There really is some cash flashing going on right now in the industry. But then again, the time is right. Confidence is high, and there is still plenty of room for more consolidation as there are still too many companies in the various sectors of UK fenestration than is really needed. Thinking out loud here, but I think we could see a ton of acquisitions over the coming 12 months, perhaps on the same levels we have seen in the tech industry such as Apple, Facebook and Google’s penchant for buying up useful companies. If you look at the current levels of demand and the number of companies servicing those demands at all levels of the industry, there are too many companies.
I think it’s also important to remember that there are after-effects when buyouts happen. Sometimes the bought company, along with their manufacturing and stock gets merged with the company buying them. What happens to the staff? Are they all kept? Will there be job losses. We don’t know right now, either scenario is possible. So whilst the news of one company buying another is generally accepted as good news, there can sometimes be some less-than-positive things going in the background as well.
The Synseal group keeps growing, big enough to call it a super-group? Perhaps not quite yet, but they’re on their way. There is a risk however which lies in the shadows of these recent company acquisitions, and this is something I will expand on in the next post or so. I’ll end by wishing both Synseal, LB Plastics and Manse Masterdor the very best in their new journey under the Synseal umbrella.
