Mannesmann Plastics Machinery placed on the market

Cohesion receives The merger. of Werner & Ptleiderer, which was previously part of Thyssen Krupp, and the two Georg Fischer companies Waeschle and Buss has been approved by the antitrust authorities. The holding company will be called Coperion Holding GmbH and will have its headquarters in Konstanz in Germany. German-based Georg Fischer Ltd of SchaRhausen will hold 50.1% of the equity in Coperion, while the rem~ning 49.9% of the shares are split between West Private Equity Ltd of London, UK and Westdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale of Dusseldorf in Germany. The new plastics processing group employs over 2,000 people and its operational units consist of 18 companies and 35 sites throughout the world. The main production sites are

Deg~ss~-~~ls

seeks f~~ctio~~l

sil~~e g~o~h

in Asiu

Functional silanes, used for the production of glass fibre reinforced compounds for the cable industry, will be at the centre of the growth strategy in the Asia/Pacific region, says manufacturer Degussa-Htis. The company says that functional silanes are one of the fastest growing areas of the speciality chemicals market. In order to meet this growth Degussa-Hi& has invested around $30 million at the Chemiepark Bitterfeld-Wolfen site for highly purified

tetrac~orosilane, as well as additional production capacity for chlorosilanes and functional silanes at the company’s Rheinfelden, Bitterfeld, Amwerp and Mobile, Alabama locations an investment worth around $150 million. Degussa-Hiils says that it also plans to construct new facilities in Asia, according to Dr. Heinz Rhezak, president of the Sivento Division, which is responsible for functional silanes in the company. “The growth in Asian countries,

Plastics Additives & Compounding~u~uary 200 I

which has been high at times, has led to above average development in the functional silanes market. We would like to take advantage of that trend and significantly increase the sale of functional silanes in the region in the coming years. Japan will play an important role in this strategy,“ he commented. The Sivento Division of Degussa-Hiils is already represented through Nippon Aerosil in Tokyo, which is a joint venture with the

in Germany, Switzerland, USA and India. The group will operate with the company names Coperion Werner & Pfleiderer, Coperion Waeschle and Coperion Buss. The movement team, with Dr. H-J Pfeiffer as chief executive of the Coperion Group is looking to achieve systematic cost and turnover synergies, which will make the group’s potential for f$ster growth and increased value. Current overall turnover is DM760 million, but this is projected to rise to DMl billion over the next five years. In the medium term Coperion is expected to become independent, possibly though a stock market launch. C&&Z& Geoq F&&r AG EL- +4152 6312697 Fax: i4152 6312863

Mi~ubishi Mater& Corporation. Functional silanes are among the core businesses of the new Degussa AG, which has been created through the merger of Degussa-Hiils AG and SKW Trostberg AG. The merger has recently been approved by shareholders. The new company will have around 63,000 employees and sales of around Euro 14 billion. Contact: Degwsa-Hz22 Tel: +49 692 I8 22 30