Mitsubishi Sells Lucite PMMA to Schweiter

Japan’s Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. (MCC) is selling its Lucite European polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) sheet business and UK distribution company Perspex Distribution Ltd. (PDL) to Switzerland’s Schweiter Technologies Group.

The Tokyo-headquartered group has been a long-term supplier of MMA monomer to the Swiss group. The transaction, at an agreed enterprise value of £92 million ($121 million) for the businesses, will be completed following regulatory approval and the carve-out of the production activities into a new legal entity. The Lucite business, which includes a manufacturing site in Darwen, Lancashire, UK, had net sales of £126 million in the fiscal year ending Mar. 31, 2018.

Lucite is one of Europe’s leading acrylic sheet and composites producers. Its Perspex general purpose sheets are used by the display, visual communication and related industries and are sold through a distribution network that includes PDL along with other long-established partners in Europe, Africa and elsewhere.

Schweiter said the incorporation of Lucite into its 3A Composites division will create significant opportunities for further development and expansion outside the UK.

The 3A Composites acrylic sheet business, with its Crylon, Akrylon and Crylux product ranges, has production plants in Germany, Spain and Slovakia. The company bought Irish plastic sheeting manufacturers Athlone Extrusions and Polycasa in July 2017 and March 2015, respectively.