Syroco Inc. Gets Ownership Change

Industrias Vassallo Inc. of Ponce, Puerto Rico, bought Syracuse, N.Y.-based Syroco Inc. in September. That includes it’s 40-employee plant in Siloam Springs.

Syroco was owned by Fiskars Corp. of Helsinki, Finland, and has other plants in Ballwinsville, N.Y., and Corona, Calif. It’s now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vassallo and will keep its name. Vassallo financed a $15 million mortgage through Westernbank Puerto Rico relating to the Siloam plant property and its operations.

Mike Mayer, Syroco’s local plant manager, said the company does about $50 million in annual sales and it’s the largest plastic furniture manufacturer in the United States.

Plastics News reported that Vassallo’s sales are expected to increase from $42 million in 2003 to about $100 million this year. The Vassallo purchase, Mayer said, will expand the Siloam operations into plastic pipe fittings. A new $500,000 injection-molding machine should arrive at the plant within a month, and in the future, the plant could add four similar machines.

The product expansion could eventually mean the hiring of an additional 30 to 80 Siloam Springs workers.