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Competitor buys NorthStar Battery, 2 Springfield plants

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A competitor announced plans to purchase NorthStar Battery parent company N Holding AB, a move that impacts Springfield plants on the northeast and northwest sides of town.

Reading, Pennsylvania-based EnerSys (NYSE: ENS) expects to close within 15 days on the acquisition of Sweden’s N Holding for $78 million, as well as the assumption of $104.5 million in debt, from the private equity Altor Fund II, according to a news release.

The purchase includes two Springfield plants, at Partnership Industrial Center and PIC West. The latter, a 320,000-square-foot facility that opened in 2010, was not fully built out, according to the release, meaning EnerSys will use excess floor space immediately for its batteries that use a designation called thin plate pure lead.

“The manufacturing processes and quality standards of NorthStar are very similar to EnerSys TPPL production,” EnerSys President and CEO David Shaffer said in the release. “It will require a modest capital investment to convert the NorthStar factories to build our Odyssey, NexSys and SBS battery products over a six-month period.

“The proven expertise and training of the NorthStar production teams will dramatically accelerate our growth versus building greenfield sites and training new teams.”

The TPPL line at the PIC West plant will add $175 million worth of production capacity and provide batteries three times faster than EnerSys’ existing production lines, Shaffer added.

For the 12 months ending Aug. 31, the operations EnerSys is acquiring produced $157 million in revenue, according to the release.

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