American giant seals deal for specialist manufacturer
A family-owned manufacturer of butyl tapes has been bought by American adhesive giant H.B. Fuller.
HS Butyl, based in Lymington, is the UK’s largest manufacturer and distributor of high-quality butyl tapes and exports to more than 50 countries.
H.B. Fuller president Celeste Mastin said: “This acquisition establishes H.B. Fuller’s presence in the European waterproofing tape market, expanding our position as a solution provider to existing customers and our relevance to more markets.”
The acquisition ─ which is a continuation of H.B. Fuller’s strategy to deliver adjusted EBITDA margin of 20% within five years ─ advances one of the company’s top 20 technology-based growth segments.
The deal will help the $3bn-turnover group accelerate its expansion into the $15bn global waterproofing tape market, which includes butyl tape technologies.
HS Butyl was founded in 1964 and had been owned by the Hodgson Sealants Group since 2007, growing its annual sales to £18m.
The East Yorkshire group will continue to focus on the Hodgson Sealants business, which is the largest independent sealant manufacturer in the UK.
Group chief executive Charles Hodgson said he believed HS Butyl “will go from strength to strength under H.B. Fuller’s ownership”.
He added: “The transaction marks another milestone in the evolution of Hodgsons Sealants Group which, after the acquisition of Britchem in 2022, provides an unrivalled range of UK-manufactured sealants.”
HS Butyl has been designing, engineering and manufacturing butyl tapes for a wide variety of applications within the construction, infrastructure, automotive and renewable energy industries.
A team of Yorkshire advisers assisted the shareholders of HS Butyl, including Park Place (Richard Firth and Hector Simpson), Andrew Jackson Solicitors (Matthew Smith and Nicole Waldron) and Brown Butler (James White and Craig Hughes).
Philip Ashworth, corporate partner of Andrew Jackson, said: “Having acted for the Hodgson family since the 1980s including the acquisition of HS Butyl in 2007, it is a delight that Matthew, Nicole and team together with colleagues at Park Place and Brown Butler have assisted on the family’s exit from the business after 17 years.”
