AVON — German industrial company Henkel Corp. said today it sold its Northeast Ohio-based consumer brands, including Duck Tape, and its Avon facility to Shurtape Technologies LLC of Hickory, N.C.
The 350 employees involved with those products learned of the sale Monday "in a series of meetings we held with them," said John Kahl, formerly chief executive officer of Henkel Corp., an American subsidiary of the international Henkel, and now chief executive officer of ShurTech Brands, the new name of the local company. All those employees will keep their jobs, and the company operations will remain at the same Avon site, Kahl said.
Family-owned Shurtape manufactures mostly industrial tapes, adhesives and other packing and construction products and also has been a supplier to the local company for years, Kahl said.
In early 2008, Innovative Brands Holdings LLC of Phoenix announced plans to buy the same assets that Shurtape bought Monday, but that deal did not go through, Kahl said. The brands that now make up ShurTech include Duck Tape, Painters Mate Green masking tape and Easy Liner shelf-lining product.
As part of the Innovative Brands sale, Henkel had planned to move 100 to 200 employees to a facility in Westlake. But when the deal failed, those workers remained in Avon. Kahl said the employees who remain with Henkel will find a new office soon.
The brands have a long history in Greater Cleveland. Henkel, of Duesseldorf, Germany, completed its purchase of Manco Inc., the longtime adhesives and utility-tape maker, in 1998. Kahls father, Jack Kahl, was Mancos chief executive. Jack Kahl later was implicated in an insider-trading case.
John Kahl said Henkel will continue to manufacture adhesives and other products in Northeast Ohio.
"Thats the beauty of this sale," Kahl said. "Shurtape is an industrial company. Were a retail company. We fit hand in glove together without a significant overlap." And he said that spinning off the company from its former parent meant no dramatic changes in work force in the region.
Neither Kahl nor Jim Shurford, of Shurtape, would reveal the selling price of the company. Dan Brogan, president of Henkel Corp. Professional Adhesive Group, was traveling and unavailable for comment.