Mecalux, a Barcelona, Spain-based designer and maker of storage systems, has acquired for $30 million the assets of U.S.-based UFC Interlake, a storage systems company currently operating under bankruptcy protection. Mecalux says the transaction, which includes the acquisition of four plants in the United States and Mexico, dramatically expands its presence in the North American market.

A federal bankruptcy court approved the transaction after no other bidders came forward to purchase the assets, Mecalux says. The company's U.S. division will be renamed Interlake Mecalux.

The UFC Interlake facilities are in Pontiac, Ill.; Sumter, S.C.; and Mexicali and Matamoros, Mexico. Mecalux already operates facilities in Chicago and in Mexico.

Mecalux says that once market conditions improve, the new U.S. division will aggressively expand its sales volumes in storage systems and technology throughout the country. It expects that, over time, systemwide sales will be split evenly between Europe and the United States.