Sovereign Research Center acquires Mohican Industries.

ACQUISITIONS EXPANSIONS

Sovereign Research Center, Ltd. (SRC), an affiliate of Akron, OH-based Sovereign Chemical, has acquired the stock of Mohican Industries of Ashland, OH. Mohican is a custom mixer specializing in rubber formulations used primarily in golf balls and polymer-based adhesives. Mohican will produce proprietary antidegradant systems and cure systems developed by SRC, as well as continuing to service and expand its custom mixing business.

Lord, Cary, NC, completed the purchase of Metal Gomma S.p.A. of Monzambano, Italy for an undisclosed sum. Metal Gomma, ISO 9000 certified, is a supplier of technical rubber products with sales of approximately 11 million Euro and has 85 employees. Lord started its partnership with Metal Gomma in 1993 with a strategic industrial alliance; purchased an equity position in Metal Gomma in 1998; and today's purchase completes the transition to 100% ownership of the firm. The Metal Gomma business will become a part of the existing Mechanical Products Division Europe organization. The Metal Gomma company name will continue for a period of time and then be changed to Lord Metal Gomma.

Bayer, Pittsburgh, PA, announced the opening of its $2 million maleic anhydride pilot plant at its Baytown, TX site, continuing a five-year expansion program that will see investment of $1.3 billion at the Baytown location through 2000. The pilot plant, directly connected to the commercial maleic anhydride production unit, includes an R&D laboratory and outside testing facility designed to generate empirical data to further improve the manufacturing process of maleic anhydride.

Bohlin Instruments has relocated its North American headquarters to East Brunswick, NJ, to accommodate the growth of its customer base and staff support personnel. This move more than doubles the size of Bohlin's offices.

IAL Consultants, London, U.K., has acquired the business and titles of Information Research Ltd., also of London. IRL is said to have been a leading authority on the global paints and coatings markets for more than 30 years.

CILAS (Compagnie Industrielle des Lasers), a member of the Aerospatiale-Matra Group, with headquarters in Orleans, France, has formed CILAS U.S. Laser diffraction for particle size analyzers was pioneered by CILAS. The CILAS production facility is an ISO 9001 registered company. The U.S. subsidiary will have its headquarters in Miami, FL. Additional service and support facilities will be located in Atlanta, GA and Long Beach, CA.

Taylor Holdings, Parsons, KS, has purchased all of the stock of the Smoot Company, Kansas City, KS. The Smoot Company designs and manufactures dense and dilute phase pneumatic conveying systems and components for bulk material handling, and supplies a full line of pneumatic system ancillary equipment.

1999 RMA Safety & Health Improvement Excellence(*) Award Winners

Company                                       Plant

General Products Group

Advanced Elastomer Systems            Wadsworth, OH
Ames Rubber (Ames Amesil)              Oakridge, NJ
BRC Rubber Group                     Montpelier, IN
                                      (Insert Prep)
                                     Montpelier, IN
                                           (Mixing)
Chardon Rubber                          Chardon, OH
Chicago Rawhide                        Franklin, NC
                                         Seneca, KS
Freudenberg-NOK,                    Bensenville, IN
  General Partnership                 Cleveland, GA
                                      La Grange, GA
                                      Santa Ana, CA
Federal-Mogul                            Skokie, IL
Gates Rubber                               Iola, KS
                                 Siloam Springs, AR
Goshen Rubber (Ladd Rubber)                Ladd, IL
Goshen Rubber (GIM)                      Goshen, IN
HBD Industries                            Elgin, SC
                                     Greenville, SC
                                      Salisbury, NC
M.A. Hanna Rubber Compounding         Kingstree, SC
Ottawa Rubber                           Holland, OH
Precision Associates
  (Standard Machine Mold)           Minneapolis, MN
Protective Coatings                   Ft. Wayne, IN
Titan Industries                         Exacta, CO
                                     South Gate, CA
                                        Houston, TX
Trostel, Ltd.
  (Polymer Compound Division)        Whitewater, WI
VIP Rubber                             La Habra, CA

Tire Group

Standard Products
  (Oliver Rubber, Cooper Tire)           Export, PA

(*) The Rubber Manufacturers Association's Excellence Award is based upon the ability of a plant to achieve an incidence rate for lost workday cases that is 75% better than the average achieved by plants that provided data to RMA.