By Frank Esposito
SENIOR STAFF REPORTER
Published: October 23, 2013 8:47 am ET
Updated: October 23, 2013 8:49 am ET
Materials supplier Ravago Group has acquired resin distributor A-Top Polymers Inc. for an undisclosed price.
Windham, N.H.-based A-Top will be integrated into Ravago’s Amco Polymers distribution channel, Ravago officials said in an Oct. 18 news release. A-Top’s senior management and commercial sales team will join the Amco management and sales team, in a move that will “add product breadth and expertise in polyethylene and other commodity plastic resins,” they added. Ravago acquired Amco Plastic Materials Inc. —a distributor and compounder in Farmingdale, N.Y. — in late 2011.
A-Top founder Peter Krippendorf will remain with Ravago in a consulting capacity. Ravago Americas president Jim Duffy described A-Top as “a quality company with a great, long-standing reputation in the marketplace, and will be an excellent addition to both Amco Polymers and Ravago as a whole.”
Late last year, Krippendorf told Plastics News that his firm had seen solid growth for sales into blow molding, injection molding and rotational molding applications during 2012. He added that A-Top had hired three new sales reps in the last two years. Prime resins make up almost all of the firm’s sales. It distributes materials for Chevron Phillips Chemical Co., Nova Chemicals Corp, and Formosa Plastics Corp. USA.
For Ravago, the deal is its first distribution purchase since it bought PET resin distributors Burcham International and Meckler & Associates in late 2012. Burcham is based in Columbia, S.C., while Meckler is in Menands, N.Y.
Since then, Ravago has formed Ravago Avangard Innovative, a recycling services joint venture with Houston-based recycler Avangard Innovative LP, and has purchased the expandable polystyrene resin business of Styron LLC. The Styron deal included an EPS plant in Schkopau, Germany, as well as related intellectual property and the Sconapor brand name.
Privately-owned Ravago Group is a distribution, compounding and recycling conglomerate based in Arendonk, Belgium. The firm employs almost 5,000 and has annual sales of around $7.5 billion.
Ravago’s Ravago Americas unit is based in Orlando, Fla. The firm’s operations include resin distribution giant H. Muehlstein & Co. Inc. | 
