US tanneries to merge
14/08/2007
Two tanning groups based in Maine have agreed to merge. The merger will bring about the largest “vertically integrated” tanning operation in the US.
The companies involved are the Irving Tanning Corporation, which runs a leather finishing plant with a capacity for almost three million square-metres in Hartland, and Prime Tanning, which runs a similar-sized facility in the town of Berwick. Prime also has a wet-blue tanning facility in St Joseph, Missouri.
After the merger, the combined operation will have earnings of around $225 million a year.
Most of their current clients are footwear and accessory brands, and include Timberland, Woverine, HH Brown and Cole.
They will operate under the name of the Prime Tanning Company.
Prime chief executive, Bob Moore, said on announcing the merger: “The new Prime will offer customers an unparalleled research and development platform and enormous capacity and flexibility.”
His counterpart at Irving, Dick Larochelle, said the merger was a logical step and that the new entity would be “a strong and viable partner” to customers, suppliers and employees.
