SEARSPORT – A new management structure has been put in place at GAC Chemical Corp.

Owner James A. Poure on Thursday announced he will take over the operation now that the sale of the company’s operations in the Midwest has been completed.

Poure has sold the Midwest chemical operations to Timothy J. Poure and Andrea J. Bhatt, both former GAC executives. The elder Poure and two other GAC executives, David M. Colter and Barbara S. Haase, will assume full control of the company’s New England holdings, based in Searsport.

“This move allows our senior management team to acquire a greater stake and greater responsibility in the company and ensures the future of the company,” Poure said.

“I bought the operation in Maine in 1994 with an eye toward just such a move, and two members of our senior management now own and run the operation in the Midwest.”

The company’s plant is located on Kidder Point in Searsport on the shore of Stockton Harbor, where it manufactures sulfuric acid, ammonium sulfate and aluminum sulfate for use in paper manufacturing and municipal sewage treatment plants.

The Maine operations will continue to be known as GAC Chemical Corp., while the name of the Midwest operations will change to GAC MidAmerica Inc.

Poure founded GAC Chemical as General Alum and Chemical in 1978. The company changed its name in 1998.

Under GAC Chemical’s new management structure, Poure will be chairman and chief executive officer. Colter, formally the company’s chief financial officer, becomes president and chief operating officer, and Haase will continue as senior vice president.