Glatfelter, York, Pa., USA, has agreed to purchase all of the outstanding equity of Spezialpapierfabrik Oberschmitten GmbH (SPO) from FINSPO Beteiligungs-GmbH, Germany, for EUR 8.5 million (approximately $11 million). SPO has annual sales of approximately EUR 25 million ($33 million). The proposed transaction is expected to close by early October.

 

"This acquisition will further our Composite Fibers business unit’s strategy of capitalizing on the fast-growing electrical market by expanding our electrical papers product platform," said Dante C. Parrini, chairman and CEO of Glatfelter. "In addition to serving Europe, we intend to leverage Glatfelter’s growing presence in Asia to meet the needs of the high concentration of electrical customers in this region. As the demand for electronic devices continues to grow, Glatfelter is positioning itself to become a supplier of choice for electrical and electronics applications." 

 

SPO’s plant is located near Frankfurt, Germany. Its primary electrical products and applications include highly technical papers for a wide range of capacitors used in consumer and industrial products, insulation papers for cables and transformers, and materials for industrial power inverters, electromagnetic current filters, and electric rail traction. SPO also produces glassine products, which are used in cosmetics packaging, food packaging, and pharmaceutical dosage bags. 

 

The company expects to incur approximately $2 million to $3 million of one-time acquisition and integration costs. Excluding one-time costs, the addition of SPO is expected to be $0.03 to $0.05 accretive to earnings per share in 2015. 

 

Upon closing, the acquired business will become part of Glatfelter’s Composite Fibers business unit, which manufactures fiber-based engineered materials for growing global niche markets, including filtration papers for tea and single serve coffee applications, nonwoven materials for the production of wall cover products, metallized papers, composite laminates, and technical specialties (which includes the electrical products platform). 

 

The acquisition of SPO will complement Glatfelter’s previously announced partnership with Dreamweaver International to develop and manufacture lithium ion battery separators, which utilize Glatfelter’s capabilities and expertise in making advanced fiber-based engineered materials.