Seeking a West Coast presence, Carus Corp. of Peru, Ill. last week completed its acquisition of Sierra Chemical Company of Sparks.
Carus Corp. a major provider of water-treatment chemicals to water municipalities throughout the United States, has operations in Belmont, N.C. as well as in Indiana, but the company sought a Western operation for several years in order to broaden its reach and curb high transportation costs.
Terms of the acquisition weren't disclosed.
"This acquisition represents a nice geographic expansion," Carus President and CEO Inga Carus says. "We have nothing on the West Coast, and that makes it hard to be competitive with some of our products that have a lot of water in them because of freight costs."
Sierra Chemical Company manufacturers and repackages many of the same products produced and sold by Carus Corp. Sierra Chemical has roughly 65 employees between its Sparks and Stockton, Calif. locations, with more than half of its workforce housed at its Sparks headquarters on Larkin Circle.
Carus says she spent much of last week meeting with Sierra Chemical employees to assure them she plans no major changes in operations. Carus Corp. even plans to expand manufacturing operations in Sparks in order to serve a wider range of markets throughout the West. The company also has a presence in manufacturing industrial, remediation and air purification chemicals.
"It really is a good story for them we are not looking to strip down operations," Carus says.
Carus Corp. was founded in 1915. In addition to its U.S. operations, the company has locations in Europe and Asia. Sierra Chemical Company was founded in 1959.
