Calumet Specialty Products Partners yesterday announced it acquired Bel-Ray Co., a New Jersey-based manufacturer and distributor of lubricants. Terms were not disclosed.
Bel-Ray manufactures and distributes specialty lubricants sold through its industrial, mining and powersports divisions.
This transaction signals our ongoing commitment to growing a global specialty products business, Jennifer Straumins, Calumet Specialty Products Partners president and chief operating officer, said in a news release. Straumins noted that Bel-Ray will join Calumets existing portfolio of specialty products brands, including its Royal Purple line of synthetic lubricants and its Penreco line of FDA-registered food-grade products.
Privately-held Bel-Ray owns and operates a 32-acre manufacturing facility in Wall, N.J., with access to ports in New York, Newark and Philadelphia. Bel-Rays New Jersey-based manufacturing plant will provide us with an East Coast facility capable of serving both domestic and export markets, Straumins said. This facility, which currently produces lubricating oils and greases, has ample capacity to supply incremental customer demand for our products.
She added that, given the private fragmented nature of the specialty products markets we occupy, Calumet remains an active consolidator of established, profitable businesses that complement our existing product portfolio.
Bel-Rays specialty lubricants are used in the aerospace, automotive, energy, food, marine, military, mining, motorcycle, powersports, steel and textiles industries.
As a globally recognized specialty lubricants brand, Bel-Ray provides us with an entry point into new customers and geographies where we will have an opportunity to cross-sell our existing lines of products, such as Royal Purple, among others, said Bryan Yourdon, president of Royal Purple and Calumets vice president of branded and packaged products. Over time, we will seek to pursue the acquisition of additional branded specialty product lines that help us to further achieve profitable growth on a global scale.
Founded in 1946 by William Kiefer, Bel-Rays products are sold in more than 100 countries across six continents. The company is managed by Kiefers daughter, Daryl Bronson, who has led the company since his retirement in 1995.
Indianapolis-based Calumet has a base oil plant in Shreveport with 7,000 barrels per day API Group II and 4,800 b/d Group I capacity and 100 b/d naphthenic capacity, and another in Princeton, La., with 6,900 b/d naphthenic capacity.
Calumets acquisitions in 2012 included Porter, Texas-based commercial and industrial lubricants producer Royal Purple, blender and distributor TruSouth Oil of Shreveport, La., and Ashland subsidiary Hercules aviation and refrigerant lubricants business in St. Louis, Mo.
