Platinum Equity has acquired Tangent Technologies, a manufacturer of weatherproof lumber made from recycled plastic rather than wood, from The Sterling Group, which more than tripled the business during roughly eight years of ownership.
Tangent Technologies makes synthetic lumber by melting down recycled plastic and extruding it into boards, posts, and profiles that look and function like wood but resist rot, moisture, and insects and require little maintenance.
The company uses high-density polyethylene, the same plastic found in milk jugs and detergent bottles, drawn from both post-consumer waste and post-industrial scrap, giving it a lower-cost and more durable alternative to pressure-treated wood for anything exposed to the elements. Its boards are sold to manufacturers of outdoor furniture, to builders of parks and playgrounds and other public site amenities, and into structural and marine uses such as docks, boardwalks, and marina decking.
Tangent’s product lines span decorative and furniture-grade lumber for casual outdoor furniture, structural and semi-structural profiles engineered to bear loads in marine infrastructure and boardwalk projects, and HDPE sheet stock sold to fabricators, with distribution reaching customers across the United States. Because the boards are extruded from recycled feedstock, Tangent both diverts plastic from landfills and offers buyers a substitute for traditional building materials that has gained share on the strength of its durability, low maintenance, and appearance.
Tangent, led by CEO Kevin Potthoff, was founded in 2003 and manufactures from a large facility near Chicago in Aurora, Illinois, with a workforce of approximately 500. Following more than two decades in Aurora, the company is consolidating its U.S. and Canadian operations into a new 1.5 million-square-foot plant in nearby Montgomery, Illinois, backed by a $50 million investment under an Illinois state EDGE (Economic Development for a Growing Economy) incentive agreement.
The Sterling Group acquired Tangent in 2018. In 2019, Tangent added Home & Leisure, an Ontario-based extruder and fabricator of plastic-lumber furniture for the mass-market casual furniture industry, and Vinyl Tech, an Ohio-based distributor serving furniture and playground builders across Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana. In February 2020, Tangent acquired Bedford Technology, a Minnesota-based extruder of structural and semi-structural plastic lumber used in marine infrastructure, boardwalks, and fencing, from Hillcrest Capital Partners and founder Brian Larsen.
Under Sterling’s ownership, Tangent has more than tripled in size as a result of both organic growth and its add-on acquisition program.
Recycled and composite lumber sits within a fast-growing corner of the building products market as homeowners, municipalities, and marine operators trade wood for materials that last longer and demand less upkeep. The US composite railing and decking market was valued at roughly $1 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach about $2.9 billion by 2033, a compound annual growth rate near 11 percent, according to Grand View Research. The broader global market for plastic lumber is forecast to climb from about $6.3 billion to roughly $17.6 billion over the decade to 2033, a rate of about 10.8 percent, according to Market.us. Demand is being driven by the expansion of outdoor living spaces, sustained home renovation activity, and a consumer shift toward low-maintenance alternatives to pressure-treated wood, alongside growing municipal and marine use where moisture resistance is essential.
Houston-headquartered The Sterling Group is a private equity and private credit firm that invests in basic manufacturing, distribution, and industrial services companies with enterprise values from $100 million to $1 billion. Since its founding in 1982, the firm has invested in 78 platform companies and closed numerous add-on acquisitions representing more than $27 billion in total transaction value.
Platinum Equity invests in a range of industries including manufacturing, distribution, transportation and logistics, equipment rental, metals services, media and entertainment, technology and telecommunications. Beverly Hills-headquartered Platinum was formed in 1995 by Tom Gores and over the past 30 years has completed more than 500 acquisitions.
Moelis and Lincoln International were the financial advisors to Tangent on this transaction.
Houston-headquartered 
