Saco--a supplier of cross-linked compounds and similar products--also has signed a letter of intent to buy two Chinese compounding plants, although that deal has not been completed.

 

The office will be in the same industrial park that includes the firm’s manufacturing plant, officials said in a news release. Saco has received a $900,000 loan from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. for the project. The new office will house the firm’s administrative and sales staff, as well as expanded research and design operations.

 

The Chinese deal includes Saco paying about $15 million to buy the two businesses-operating as Suzhou Huiye Chemical & Light Industry Co. Ltd. and Suzhou Huiye Plastic Industry Co. Ltd.--from Singapore-based materials firm Dynamic Colours Ltd. for about $15 milllion, according to an Asian media report. Both firms are in Jiangsu province and make color compounds for the electrical and electronic appliance market, according to the report.

 

The acquisition is being made through AEI Compounds Ltd., a British compounding firm that Saco bought for almost $14 million in 2011. Saco has annual sales of more than $100 million and is owned by holding firm AESSE Investments Ltd. Saco also owns and operates specialty compounder Macromeric in Aurora, Ohio.