New owner plans to add workers at Adchem, executive says

Adchem Corp., a Riverhead manufacturer of specialty tape products with 115 employees, has been acquired by Berry Global Group Inc. of Evansville, Indiana, the companies said.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Publicly traded Berry Global, a maker of adhesives, specialty films and consumer packaging, plans to add to the product line and hire more workers at Adchem, said Joseph M. Pufahl, manager of business development at the Riverhead company that was co-founded by his father, Joseph A. Pufahl, who died in 2009.

Adchem makes sophisticated adhesive tapes used in the automotive, construction and graphic arts markets, Joseph M. Pufahl said Friday. For instance, he said, one type of tape is designed to adhere sound-deadening foam to a slippery car body, and it has to work through Alaska winters and Florida summers for the lifetime of a car.

“It’s not grandma’s Scotch tape,” Pufahl said. “You’re holding windows and doors together.”

Adchem, founded in 1965, had been peppered with “constant” acquisition offers from companies and private equity firms for years and ultimately began entertaining offers, said Pufahl, whose brothers John and Robert were co-chief executives of the company. Joseph M. Pufahl said he also would be stepping aside as a company executive.

In December 2016, New York State awarded Adchem $100,000 for an advanced manufacturing employee training program. The New York Power Authority in 2014 agreed to provide the company 366 kilowatt-hours in discount electricity in consideration for retaining jobs and a $1 million capital investment.

Adchem will be incorporated into Berry’s engineered materials division, according to a memo sent Friday by a Berry executive to customers.

Berry posted net sales of $1.8 billion in the quarter ended April 1. Shares of Berry lost 26 cents to close at $56.75 on Monday on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock has risen about 45 percent in the last 12 months.

By Ken Schachter

kenneth.schachter@newsday.comkschach

Ken Schachter covers corporate news, including technology and aerospace, and other business topics for Newsday. He has also worked at The Miami Herald and The Jerusalem Post.