Parent company relocating United Coatings

Add United Coatings to the list of Spokane-area companies being relocated elsewhere. Officials from Quest Specialty Chemicals, which bought United Coatings in 2007, announced Thursday the operation will move to Phoenix by early 2010. Other recent examples of companies launched here but later relocated include Columbia Lighting and General Dynamics Itronix. Started in 1919 as United Paint, the company changed its name in 2000. It grew into a global company by focusing on selling specialized, durable coatings for industrial and commercial customers. The shutdown and relocation will affect 35 Spokane Valley employees at the operations office at 19011 E. Cataldo in the Spokane Valley. Some Spokane workers may choose to move to the Arizona office, said Quest Specialty Chemicals spokeswoman Nancy Valent. Those who do not move will receive severance packages, she added. The new Phoenix office will consolidate the Spokane Valley and United Coatings’ Tempe site, where 25 workers are employed. “This move helps us get closer to our primary customers who are in the Southwest and in the Southeast,” Valent said. No financial information on annual revenue for United Coatings is available, since Quest Specialty Chemicals is managed by private equity management company Huron Capital Partners, based in Detroit. At one point the headcount at United Coatings was about 50 workers. Its products are shipped overseas. The company’s largest overseas operation is in the People’s Republic of China. The company has established joint ventures in Saudi Arabia, China, Egypt, Brazil and Thailand.