KANSAS CITY, MO.--Mr. Gholi Darehshori, President of Peninsula
Polymers, Inc. (PPI), and Charles E. Bennett, CEO of Cook Composites
and Polymers Co. (CCP), announced today the formation of their North
America coatings distribution joint venture. The new entity will
retain the name Peninsula Polymer, Inc., and is expected to continue
to represent its existing principals, as well as to add other
complimentary lines.
Existing PPI warehouse network and distribution coverage will be
consolidated in areas where there may be current overlap with CCP,
and will expanded wherever there may be incomplete geographic
coverage.
Mr. Darehshori stated, "We are extremely excited about this
partnership with a strong international, technically advanced
coatings resin organization such as Cook Composites and Polymers.
This venture will allow us to expand our product lines to include
other CCP/Cray Valley coatings products, and extends our technical
service capabilities to our customers." "Our primary focus," he
added, "is to help our customers develop better products more cost
effectively. Customers have come to expect an extremely high level of
local service and technical support from PPI. The new venture is
designed to retain and expand this fast response, service intense
orientation while also delivering the national scope and operating
economies of scale expected from a truly national distributor."
According to Mr. Bennett, "Peninsula Polymers has been our national
coatings distributor since 1997. Both our organizations have been
able to grow their presence in the coatings industry from this
association, and we believe this closer relationship helps CCP
strengthen and expand our sales initiatives. We fully expect to bring
additional management support to PPI's organization and to capitalize
on its excellent reputation for customer service."
"We believe PPI can be a strong platform," Mr. Bennett
continued, "for expanding our coatings distribution network, and we
look toward potentially consolidating other regional distributors
where current Peninsula Polymers representation may need to be
expanded. We have a very successful joint venture with Composites
One, the world's largest composite and cast polymer distributor, and
we believe that can serve as a model in our continued commitment to
the North American Coatings Industry.
Our association with PPI will broaden our coverage and the package of
products we offer to the Industry. We also believe this distribution
channel will help us accelerate the introduction of new products to
the industry--especially resins for powder coatings--that
we either develop internally, or that are technologies we bring from
other parts of the Cray Valley organization to the domestic market."
Peninsula Polymers, Inc. currently has nine distribution locations
throughout the United States. In addition to Cook Composites and
Polymers Co. products, Peninsula Polymers also distributes amino
resins from Cytec, a line of epoxies and related products from NanYa
and Pacific Epoxy Polymers, Inc. (both liquid and powder), and a full
line of oils from Cargill.
CCP, a U.S.-based manufacturer of specialty chemicals, is part of
ATOFINA, the chemical branch of TOTAL FINA ELF Group. With
manufacturing facilities throughout the United States, Canada and
Mexico, CCP is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri.
Along with ATOFINA associated companies Cray Valley and Sartomer, CCP
is the second largest producer of coatings resins in the world, as
well as the world's largest and leading producer of polyester gel
coats; the company has the largest distributor network for composites
and cast polymers in North America.
Source: CCP