By Liz White, UT staffCavan, Ireland-Building product supplier Kingspan Group plc has paid £20 million ($37 million) to buy Advanced Thermal Composites Ltd (ATC), a Warrington, UK-based manufacturer of composite sandwich panels. ATC makes continuous polyisocyanurate (PIR) and discontinuous polyurethane (PU) panels, which it supplies for cold-storage and food-preparation applications. The acquisition complements Kingspan's existing business in the UK, said a statement from the Cavan, Ireland-headquartered group. As well as the £20-million purchase price, a further £1 million is payable over three years-except in certain circumstances, Kingspan said. ATC is expected to have net assets, excluding cash, at completion of £3.6 million. The firm's aggregated revenue was £15.3 million, and profit before tax was £3.3 million, for the year ended 31 Aug 2004. ATC says its insulated PU and EPS panels "can be used for all aspects of refrigeration construction and as industrial freezer walls," and are suitable for cold-storage manufacture and for all types of refrigerated buildings, walk-in refrigerated cold rooms or temperature-controlled clean rooms."
