NEW YORK – One Equity Partners (“OEP”), a middle market private equity firm, today announced that its portfolio company Clayens Group (“Clayens”), a leading value-added outsourced contract manufacturer of high-performance polymers, composites and precision metals headquartered in Genas, France, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire precision plastics manufacturer Parkway Products LLC (“Parkway”) and completed a carve-out of the Crystal Lake, IL injection molding manufacturing facility and transfer of in-house operations from a global healthcare corporation to Clayens. Terms of the transactions were not disclosed. Closing of the Parkway acquisition is subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

Headquartered in Genas, France, Clayens Group is a European leader in processing polymers, composites and precision metal parts. It collaborates with customers worldwide to provide them with the products and services they need across a wide range of industries: aeronautics, automotive, healthcare, electronics, construction, household goods, sports, and leisure products. Clayens Group operates industrial sites in Germany, Eastern Europe, North Africa and Mexico, with foreign subsidiaries providing specific services to customers close to their assembly facilities. Clayens’ expertise is focused on four main technologies: thermoplastics, thermoset forming, metal engineering and electronics. Clayens’ R&D teams provide innovative technologies, often working in partnerships with its customers and third-party companies on the latest processing and design applications. Learn more at www.clayens-np.com.

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Founded in 1946 and headquartered in Greenville, S.C., Parkway manufactures and produces high-performance precision plastic components, and offers plastics and molding processing solutions including thermoplastics, thermoset and machined plastics, as well as magnesium thixomolding and high-performance polymers molding, allowing for highly-engineered applications across an array of industries. From its eight facilities in the US and one in Mexico Parkway serves clients in the precision industrial, infrastructure, agriculture, aerospace & defense, transportation and healthcare markets.

Symcon believes that injection moulded records could be turned around as quickly as two weeks, compared to the current timeline of twelve to sixteen weeks from cutting floor to shop.

Parkway Products, LLC, founded in 1946, is a leader in five niche process technologies utilized in plastic processing and is ranked among the top 100 injection molders according to Plastic News' 2020 rankings. With over 750 dedicated employees working in nine facilities throughout the United States and Mexico, customers are provided a single source for precision-molded products requiring both high performance and advanced materials. Learn more at www.parkwayproducts.com.

Although the process has come some way, there are still a number of challenges ahead, which you can read about in full here.

Symcon, a Dutch company specialising in CD manufacturing, has announced that it is developing the technology to press records via injection moulding. It hopes the new process will cut production costs, improve sound quality and reduce the environment impact of conventional record pressing.

One Equity Partners (“OEP”) is a middle market private equity firm focused on the industrial, healthcare, and technology sectors in North America and Europe. The firm seeks to build market-leading companies by identifying and executing transformative business combinations. OEP is a trusted partner with a differentiated investment process, broad and senior team and established track record generating long-term value for its partners. Since 2001, the firm has completed more than 300 transactions worldwide. OEP, founded in 2001, spun out of JP Morgan in 2015. The firm has offices in New York, Chicago, Frankfurt and Amsterdam. For more information, please visit www.oneequity.com.

“The acquisition of Parkway Products creates synergies that enable first-class production of high-performance polymers, composites and precision metals that enhances both companies’ technical expertise and overall client reach.“ said Clayens’ CEO Eric Pisani. “The purchase of the Crystal Lake facility helps achieve our strategic goal of boosting our healthcare capabilities by expanding manufacturing capacity in the United States. As a combined business with circa €600 million in revenues and 31 facilities in Europe, North America, and Northern Africa, Clayens is well positioned to provide top quality services to our customers on three continents and become one of the leaders in the global precision plastic components manufacturing.”

Clayen’s Crystal Lake manufacturing business includes a 473,000 square-foot fully equipped facility with clean room operations and significant capacity for growth and is primarily involved in production of plastic-based products for the medical sector, such as medical waste containers and syringes for leading healthcare players.

“These transactions are the result of strategic growth initiatives identified as part of our investment in Clayens in December 2022, proving OEP’s assessment of the company as a solid investment platform,” said Konstantin Ryzhkov, Managing Director, One Equity Partners. “The Parkway and Crystal Lake acquisitions give Clayens strategic scale in North America and further diversify its customer base and technical capabilities.”

“With this method, the plastic is injected straight into the grooves, which copies the grooves on the stamper better than the conventional method, in which the vinyl is being pushed onto the grooves at an angle,” Symcon’s Harm Theunisse explained to Discogs.

Usually steam is used to heat up the PVC puck to 180 degrees before it is pressed between two stampers. The force used in this process causes wear on the stampers, which can be used for 1500 to 2000 records each on average. The injection moulded method avoids steam, supposedly saving up to 65% energy, and applies no pressure to the stampers, enabling them to be used for longer periods of time without affecting quality.