Milliken buys Rebus

Milliken buys Rebus

F O C U S respect of complying with the requirements of REACH legislation on hazardous chemicals. PPCJ, Polymers, Paint, Colour Journal, Sep 2009, 199...

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F O C U S respect of complying with the requirements of REACH legislation on hazardous chemicals. PPCJ, Polymers, Paint, Colour Journal, Sep 2009, 199 (4540), 7

Huntsman poised to acquire selected Tronox TiO2 assets On 2 November, Huntsman Corp announced that the US anti-trust authority had effectively approved its “stalking horse bid” for certain Tronox Inc assets. A “stalking horse bid” is described as a binding proposal for acquisition of a bankrupt company’s assets, which is subject to being trumped by a higher offer through an auction process approved by the US Bankruptcy Court.” (See also ‘Focus on Pigments’, Oct 2009, 5). The Tronox assets that Huntsman intends to buy comprise: two wholly-owned TiO2 pigment plants (a 225,000 tonnes/y plant at Hamilton in the US and a 90,000 tonnes/y plant at Botlek in the Netherlands); a 50% stake in Tiwest (which owns a 110,000 tonnes/y TiO2 pigment plant, a 230,000 tonnes/y synrutile plant and a large titanium and zirconium minerals mine, all in Western Australia); a sodium chlorate plant at Hamilton (US); and all the electrolytic facilities at Henderson, NV (also in the US), including facilities for making manganese dioxide, elemental boron and boron trichloride. It is possible that alternative bids for the Tronox assets may be tabled, but the deadline set by the Bankruptcy Court is Tuesday 1 December. The auction itself is scheduled to take place on 8 December, to be followed by a Court Hearing on 10 December to ratify the results of the auction. Tronox was required by the US Bankruptcy Court to make this kind of arrangement under Section 363 of the Bankruptcy Code. However, the company is also pursuing the possibility of a stand-alone reorganisation, which involves appealing to existing bondholders and other potential lenders to raise $408 M for “exit financing.” This would enable Tronox Inc to emerge from Chapter 11 protection against creditors and would involve paying Huntsman about $15 M in break-up fees and reimbursement of Huntsman’s expenses associated with

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preparing the acquisition bid. Tronox would also have to show that it had reached a negotiated settlement with all claimants for environmental liabilities, tort liabilities, etc. Tronox would have to notify Huntsman and the Bankruptcy Court of termination of the acquisition agreement before 10 December 2009. The sale of selected assets to Huntsman would leave Tronox Inc with most of the “legacy environmental liabilities” that it inherited at the time it was hived-off as a separate entity by Kerr-McGee. These liabilities are associated with remediation work deemed necessary to clean up sites where Kerr-McGee formerly mined and processed uranium ore, treated timber with arsenic and certain persistent organic pollutants (POPs) or operated agrochemical facilities. The US Government has filed a claim for $2 bn in respect of some of this remediation work. Mr Peter Huntsman (CEO of Huntsman Corp) commented: “We are seeing the global economy slowly rebounding. It is much better to be acquiring and growing than selling and shrinking.” The acquisition of the Tronox assets will raise Huntsman’s global TiO2 capacity to 935,000 tonnes/y, representing just under 17% of the world total. Meanwhile, Tronox GmbH declared insolvency of its German operations in mid-March 2009. The company has been separated from Tronox Inc and a Court-appointed Administrator, the attorney Mr Eberhard Stock, is ultimately responsible for supervising ongoing operations at the 107,000 tonnes/y TiO2 pigment plant at Krefeld-Uerdingen. Mr Paul Roberts, who had remained in post as CEO of Tronox GmbH after the corporate separation, recently resigned from the company. Wall Street Journal, 31 Aug 2009. Website: http://www.wsj.com & Press Releases from: Tronox Inc, Oklahoma City, OK 73102-7109, USA (16 Oct 2009) & Huntsman Corp, The Woodlands, TX, USA (2 Nov 2009)

Milliken buys Rebus Milliken & Co (headquartered at Spartanburg, SC) is one of the world’s largest privately owned companies in the chemical, carpet and textile industries. It already has a prominent

position in the supply of colorants for thermoset plastics. This was recently boosted by the acquisition of Rebus Inc, which manufactures single pigment and custom colour dispersions for plastics at its Aston, PA factory. Rebus was founded in 1992 and it supplies colour and additive dispersions (both paste and pourable forms) to thermoset plastics compounders, manufacturers, fabricators and end-users throughout North America. Press Release from: Milliken & Co, PO Box 1927 M 400, Spartanburg, SC 29304, USA. Website: http://www.millikenchemical.com (14 Oct 2009)

LITIGATION Huntsman wins Indian patent infringement case against Kiri Huntsman Corp has obtained an order from the High Court of Mumbai against Kiri Dyes & Chemicals Ltd (of Ahmedabad) for infringing one of its patents. The patent under scrutiny was duly registered with the Indian Patent Office in 2008. It relates to a true innovation for producing a reactive dye in deep black shades. The manufacture of Huntsman’s Novacron Super Black G relies on this patent. However, Kiri has been making and selling its Reactive Super Black G textile colorant, which blatantly flouts Huntsman’s patent. Samples of the Kiri product have been collected from several Asian textile mills and they are now being analysed by independent laboratories. Huntsman states: “Our Textile Effects business is the leading global provider of high-quality dyes and chemicals to the textile and related industries. We are fully committed to protecting our intellectual property rights. This Court order sets an important precedent in India and it encourages innovative companies like Huntsman to continue investing a significant portion of their turnover in research and development of new products that contribute to improving the sustainability of textiles through better fastness properties, higher durability and functionality.” Press Release from: Huntsman Corp, 3040 Post Oak Boulevard, Houston, TX 77056, USA. Tel: +1 713 235 6000. Website: http://www.huntsman.com (11 Jun 2009) & Chemical Weekly, 23 Jun 2009, 54 (45), 122

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