Atrium Enters Canadian Market with Purchase of North Star

North Star Vinyl Windows & Doors has been acquired by Dallas-based Atrium Cos. Inc., providing Atrium and its family of brands with a significant presence in the Canadian market for the first time, officials state. Based in St. Thomas, ON, North Star operates a 223,000-square-foot manufacturing facility producing a complete line of vinyl windows and patio doors, and is vertically integrated, operating its own extrusion
lines.

Seventy percent of North Star’s products go to the replacement/remodeling market, with 30 percent going to new construction projects. North Star also reports that it provides about 90 percent of its volume to dealers in Canada, with 10 percent going to dealers in the United States.

“We started building this company in 1985, and it has grown remarkably in that time,” explains Jim Banman, North Star president. “Joining forces with Atrium allows us the opportunity to take North Star to the next level. It’s the right move at the right time for both sides.”

“This is a significantly important deal for both companies,” agrees Greg Faherty, Atrium president and CEO. “North Star makes high quality products that are a perfect fit within the Atrium family of brands, and Atrium will benefit from North Star’s highly refined production system for producing replacement and new construction windows. These are products that offer many of the upscale product features that our customers love, and we’re proud that they’ll now be more widely available. North Star will benefit from Atrium’s size, which will provide purchasing synergies, as well as to our broad product lines.”

On its own, North Star Windows was a Window & Door Top 100 Manufacturer reporting sales between $40-$50 million (U.S. dollars). In addition to manufacturing and selling windows and doors, the vertically integrated North Star operates North Star Profile Extrusions, which provides window systems to other manufacturers.