Ag International

About Ag International

70 Years of Expertise The International Group, Inc. (IGI) has been in the wax business for 70 years. The organization, originally known as International Waxes Limited, was founded in Toronto, Ontario by William Reucassel in 1943 and incorporated in 1945. William Reucassel was responsible for building Canada's first solvent de-oiling petroleum wax refinery on a 3 acre piece of property that he purchased in Agincourt, Canada in 1945. It was at this refinery that an oily by-product of lube oil manufacture called slack wax was converted into what we now refer to as fully refined paraffin wax. In 1949 the refinery came online with 100 sq. ft. of filtering capacity and hand slabbing capability at the rate of 2,000 lbs every 6 hours. Total refinery output was 5 million lbs per year. Today IGI owns Greer machines that output wax slabs at the rate of 8,000 lbs/hr and total refinery output is in excess of 150 million lbs of wax per year. In 2003 IGI acquired the BP Global Special Product US wax business. The sale included BP's wax operations throughout North and Central America. Under the terms of the sale, IGI acquired wax formulation data, local trademarks, supplier and customer information, manufacturing knowledge, and inventory. In 2005 IGI acquired the US-based industrial wax business from Honeywell Specialty Materials. This sale included not only product and customer data but production and blending plants as well. The acquisition increased IGI's total production capacity and improved positions in such areas as candles and tire and rubber industries. 2011 gave two more additions to IGI. The first was the creation of an internal division, IGI Specialty Materials, to manage distribution, smaller volume customers, and unique products and applications. The second was the acquisition of the Silver Eagle Group. Acquisition of this group ensured IGI a constant, stable supply of wax material for the future.