Hexcel Adds to Composites Offerings with Structil Deal

Composites maker Hexcel Corp. plans to acquire Structil SA, a smaller composites maker based near Paris.

No transaction price was listed in a June 1 news release from Stamford, Conn.-based Hexcel. Structil employs 70 at a 68,000-square-foot plant in Vert-le-Petit, France, making high-performance composites for the aerospace, defense and industrial markets.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year, Structil is a joint venture between industrial firm Safran Group of Paris and Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. of Tokyo.

In 2016, Structil posted sales of about $21 million. Its product lines include prepregs, structural adhesives and pultruded profiles used in aerospace interiors, military jets and more. Hexcel has been a supplier to Structil for 30 years.

"By combining Structil's advanced composites product portfolio of prepregs, adhesives and pultrusions with ours, this acquisition would further enhance our product offerings to our customers in aerospace and industrial, providing an expanded choice of advanced composite solutions," Hexcel Chairman, CEO and President Nick Stanage said in the release.

Hexcel posted record sales of just over $2 billion in 2016. The commercial aerospace market accounted for more than 70 percent of that sales total.