Sovereign Specialty Chemicals announced that its Pierce & Stevens subsidiary has purchased an overprint-coatings product line from Aurachem.

CHICAGO — Sovereign Specialty Chemicals Inc. announced that its Pierce & Stevens Corp. subsidiary has purchased an overprint-coatings product line from Aurachem Inc., a privately owned company located in Harrison, NJ. The product line generates annual sales of approximately $3.5 million for various graphic arts and specialty plastics applications. Manufacturing will be transferred over the next several months to existing Pierce & Stevens’ plants, Sovereign said.

Pierce & Stevens President Fred Quinn said the purchase, combined with the 1999 acquisition of The Valspar Corp.’s flexible packaging-coatings product line, boosts Pierce & Stevens’ position as a major supplier of packaging coatings, particularly radiation-cure products.

Sovereign Specialty Chemicals, based in Chicago, is a manufacturer of specialty adhesives, sealants and coatings. The company was launched by a group of private investors in 1996 and has expanded with a series of acquisitions. Annual sales are approximately $250 million.