Photo by Stephen Downer Mecaplast CEO Pierre Boulet during the opening of the company's second plant in Mexico in 2014.
European auto supplier Mecaplast Group plans to acquire Livonia, Michigan, US-based Key Plastics in a bid to expand its global presence.
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The deal is subject to regulatory approval.
The acquisition would provide expansion in the US, Germany and China for Mecaplast, the company said in a news release.
Key Plastics operates 12 manufacturing facilities worldwide, including paint facilities in six countries. The company produces automotive interior, exterior and under-the-hood plastic components with annual sales of about $415m (€373m). It has about 3,500 employees worldwide.
Plastics News, sister publication of PNE, estimates Key Plastics' North American injection moulding sales at $295m (€373m), ranking the company No. 24 in the most recent survey.
Minnesota-based private equity firm Wayzata Investment Partners is Key Plastics' current majority stakeholder, which it acquired out of the supplier's second bankruptcy in 2009.
Mecaplast has continued to expand, boosted by its new majority shareholder, the United Kingdom-based private investment firm Equistone Partners Europe. Today the firm has 28 plants and eight technical centres in 18 countries and recorded $734m (€660m) in sales in 2015.
Mecaplast was founded in 1955 by Charles Manni in Monaco and specialises in injection moulding technical parts for the automotive industry. The company makes about 170 million parts per year and is based in Clamart, France.
