By Frank Esposito
SENIOR STAFF REPORTER
Published: July 29, 2013 3:50 pm ET

The up-and-down voyage of Pexco LLC continues, as the custom extruder has made another acquisition less than a year after selling off some of its assets and closing a plant.
This time, Atlanta-based Pexco has bought Scandia Plastics Inc. of Plaistow, N.H., for an undisclosed price. Scandia employs about 50 and operates 12 production lines at a 62,000-square-foot plant. The firm specializes in high-performance plastic extrusions and downstream value-added machining.
(Scandia is not connected to the blow molder of the same name based in Sheboygan, Wis. That firm was bought in October by Graham Partners Inc.)
Scandia “is a perfect fit for our business,” Pexco CEO Neil Shillingford said in a July 29 news release. He described Scandia as “a classic specialty extruder bringing value to its customers through high-performance extrusion processing and value-added finishing.”
Pexco is buying Scandia from Dave Hallett, who founded the firm in 1971. Hallett will remain with the business as president of site operations. Scandia sells its extrusions into several markets, including filtration, medical and defense. The firm can make tubing, profiles and shapes based on PVC, polycarbonate, polystyrene and other resins.
In late 2012, Pexco announced it was closing its plant in Columbia, S.C., and selling its extruded sheet-related assets to Plaskolite Inc. Extruded sheet had made up more than half of the Columbia plant’s volume. Pexco then transferred its extruded profile business from Columbia to plants in Philadelphia, Houston, Chicago and Monterrey, Mexico.
Prior to those moves, Pexco had been aggressively growing, buying four businesses in 2011 before being sold itself to private equity firm Odyssey Investment Partners LLC. Odyssey is based in New York and in Woodland Hills, Calif. Pexco previously had been owned by Saw Mill Capital LLC.
Pexco ranked as North America’s 19th-largest pipe, profile and tubing extruder in a recent Plastics News’ industry ranking. The firm’s annual sales are estimated at $200 million. Pexco now operates 10 production plants throughout North America.