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United Kingdom: Cabot – fumed silica
FOCUS (equivalent to about $9.2 M). The new plant is scheduled to start-up in April 2014. Original Source: Japan Synthetic Rubber Corp, 1-9-2 Higashi Shinbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan, website: http://www.jsr.co.jp (14 Feb & 4 Mar 2013) © JSR Corp 2013
Russia: Gabriel – masterbatches Gabriel Chemie plans to build a new masterbatch plant at a 5 hectares site in the Alabuga Special Economic Zone within Tatarstan republic/ province (about 200 km east of Kazan and 1000 km east of Moscow). Construction work will commence later this year and the plant should be fully on-stream by 2015. It will have an initial capacity for producing 4000 tonnes/y of additive and colour masterbatches, which will eventually be raised to 14,000 tonnes/y and will include black and white masterbatches. As well as the manufacturing plant, there will also be a laboratory and warehouse facilities on the Alabuga site. Gabriel already has a masterbatch plant, laboratory and warehouse at Ruzsky, a northwestern suburb of Moscow. These facilities will remain here, together with the company’s Russian sales headquarters. Gabriel Chemie is an independent privately owned company, founded in Austria in 1950. It now employs 461 people and it has six plants, namely at: Moscow-Ruzsky (Russia); Lazne Bohdanec (10 km northwest of Pardubice, Czech Republic); Nyireghaza (50 km north of Debrecen, Hungary); Weitnau Oberallgäu (150 km southwest of Munich, Germany); Paddock Wood (15 km southwest of Maidstone, UK); and Gumpoldskirchen (25 km southsouthwest of Vienna, Austria). Last year, the company reported sales revenue at €85.6 M, of which 25% was accounted for by sales to customers outside Europe. Original Source: RCCnews, 20 Mar 2013, (Website: http://www.rccnews.ru/eng) © RCCnews.ru 2013
Saudi Arabia: PolyOne & Juffali – plastics masterbatch The new $14 M coloured masterbatch plant at Jeddah on the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia recently commenced
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production. It was built and will be operated by Juffali PolyOne Masterbatch Co Ltd, which was registered in October 2011 and is owned 51% by PolyOne Corp (of Avon Lake, OH) and 49% by EA Juffali & Brothers Co Ltd (headquartered in Jeddah). The joint venture was described as the logical extension of 30 years of cooperation between the two companies. (See also ‘Focus on Pigments’, Dec 2011, 7). Original Source: PolyOne Corp, 33587 Walker Road, Avon Lake, OH 44012, website: http://www.polyone.com (9 Apr 2013) © Polyone 2013
United Kingdom: Cabot – fumed silica Cabot Corp recently completed a 25% expansion of its fumed silica plant at Barry (15 km southwest of Cardiff, South Wales). No details were given on the absolute capacity of the Barry plant, but it is known that Cabot is one of the world’s two largest suppliers of fumed silica. Cabot has six fumed silica plants around the world – at Barry, Rheinfelden (Germany), Tuscola, IL and Midland, MI (United States), Mettur (India) and Jiujiang (Jiangxi province, China). The expansion at Barry was part of Cabot’s programme to raise its worldwide capacity for fumed metal oxides by 35-40% between 2011 and 2014. At its Barry site, Cabot has an interdependent relationship with Dow Corning, which runs a silicone monomer plant at the adjacent site. Dow Corning supplies silanes to Cabot for conversion to fumed silica and Cabot supplies fumed silica to Dow Corning for the manufacture of compounded silicones. This interdependent relationship dates back to 1991. Thanks to the recent project, Cabot can now use a wider range of silane raw materials to make a broader portfolio of silicones. According to Cabot, the world’s consumption of fumed silica for making silicones is poised to rise by 6-9% per annum over the next 10 years. Fumed silica will also be used more widely in the adhesives, rubber and plastics industry. Original Source: Chimie Pharma Hebdo, 2 Apr 2013, (628) (Website: http://www.industrie.com/chimie/) (in French) © ETAI Information 2013
COMPANIES Sachtleben buys-out Kemira in order to facilitate sale of its TiO2 business Rockwood Holdings Inc has paid €97.5 M to buy out Kemira’s 39% stake in the Sachtleben joint venture. The agreement was signed on 14 February and the transaction was officially completed within a week. At the same time as announcing this acquisition, Rockwood made it clear that it is hoping to dispose of its TiO2 business later this year. Mr Seifi Ghasemi (Chairman & CEO of Rockwood) said: “Given our prior statements that the TiO2 business is non-core, it is our key objective this year to explore and execute on the best strategic option for Rockwood. Attaining 100% ownership of the joint venture provides us with the flexibility to achieve this goal in the timeframe and manner most optimal for maximising shareholder value.” To further facilitate the disposal of Sachtleben, Rockwood has used cash in hand to pay-off Sachtleben’s €394.5 M worth of term loans and debt assumed under a revolving credit facility. Sachtleben Pigments was created by the pooling of the TiO2 assets of Rockwood and Kemira and it began trading with effect from 1 September 2008. Sachtleben contributed its 100,000 tonnes/y sulfate-route TiO2 plant at Duisburg (Germany), while Kemira contributed its 130,000 tonnes/y sulfate-route TiO2 plant at Pori (Finland). The new entity, owned 61% by Rockwood and 39% by Kemira, had pro forma sales revenues of €556 M for full-year 2007. (See also ‘Focus on Pigments’, Jul 2008, 7). In July 2012, Sachtleben further expanded by acquiring the 107,000 tonnes/y sulfate-route TiO2 plant of Crenox (formerly Tronox Deutschland) at Krefeld-Uerdingen (Germany). Sachtleben now employs 2250 people – 1150 at Duisburg, 550 at Krefeld and 550 at Pori. Thus, Sachtleben became the world’s sixth largest TiO2 multinational, with a total TiO2 pigment capacity of nearly 340,000 tonnes/y. The company has a long-established reputation for supplying high-quality specialty grades of anatase TiO2 for the synthetic fibre, printing ink, food, MAY 2013
Russia: Gabriel – masterbatches Gabriel Chemie plans to build a new masterbatch plant at a 5 hectares site in the Alabuga Special Economic Zone within Tatarstan republic/ province (about 200 km east of Kazan and 1000 km east of Moscow). Construction work will commence later this year and the plant should be fully on-stream by 2015. It will have an initial capacity for producing 4000 tonnes/y of additive and colour masterbatches, which will eventually be raised to 14,000 tonnes/y and will include black and white masterbatches. As well as the manufacturing plant, there will also be a laboratory and warehouse facilities on the Alabuga site. Gabriel already has a masterbatch plant, laboratory and warehouse at Ruzsky, a northwestern suburb of Moscow. These facilities will remain here, together with the company’s Russian sales headquarters. Gabriel Chemie is an independent privately owned company, founded in Austria in 1950. It now employs 461 people and it has six plants, namely at: Moscow-Ruzsky (Russia); Lazne Bohdanec (10 km northwest of Pardubice, Czech Republic); Nyireghaza (50 km north of Debrecen, Hungary); Weitnau Oberallgäu (150 km southwest of Munich, Germany); Paddock Wood (15 km southwest of Maidstone, UK); and Gumpoldskirchen (25 km southsouthwest of Vienna, Austria). Last year, the company reported sales revenue at €85.6 M, of which 25% was accounted for by sales to customers outside Europe. Original Source: RCCnews, 20 Mar 2013, (Website: http://www.rccnews.ru/eng) © RCCnews.ru 2013
Saudi Arabia: PolyOne & Juffali – plastics masterbatch The new $14 M coloured masterbatch plant at Jeddah on the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia recently commenced
6
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PIGMENTS
production. It was built and will be operated by Juffali PolyOne Masterbatch Co Ltd, which was registered in October 2011 and is owned 51% by PolyOne Corp (of Avon Lake, OH) and 49% by EA Juffali & Brothers Co Ltd (headquartered in Jeddah). The joint venture was described as the logical extension of 30 years of cooperation between the two companies. (See also ‘Focus on Pigments’, Dec 2011, 7). Original Source: PolyOne Corp, 33587 Walker Road, Avon Lake, OH 44012, website: http://www.polyone.com (9 Apr 2013) © Polyone 2013
United Kingdom: Cabot – fumed silica Cabot Corp recently completed a 25% expansion of its fumed silica plant at Barry (15 km southwest of Cardiff, South Wales). No details were given on the absolute capacity of the Barry plant, but it is known that Cabot is one of the world’s two largest suppliers of fumed silica. Cabot has six fumed silica plants around the world – at Barry, Rheinfelden (Germany), Tuscola, IL and Midland, MI (United States), Mettur (India) and Jiujiang (Jiangxi province, China). The expansion at Barry was part of Cabot’s programme to raise its worldwide capacity for fumed metal oxides by 35-40% between 2011 and 2014. At its Barry site, Cabot has an interdependent relationship with Dow Corning, which runs a silicone monomer plant at the adjacent site. Dow Corning supplies silanes to Cabot for conversion to fumed silica and Cabot supplies fumed silica to Dow Corning for the manufacture of compounded silicones. This interdependent relationship dates back to 1991. Thanks to the recent project, Cabot can now use a wider range of silane raw materials to make a broader portfolio of silicones. According to Cabot, the world’s consumption of fumed silica for making silicones is poised to rise by 6-9% per annum over the next 10 years. Fumed silica will also be used more widely in the adhesives, rubber and plastics industry. Original Source: Chimie Pharma Hebdo, 2 Apr 2013, (628) (Website: http://www.industrie.com/chimie/) (in French) © ETAI Information 2013
COMPANIES Sachtleben buys-out Kemira in order to facilitate sale of its TiO2 business Rockwood Holdings Inc has paid €97.5 M to buy out Kemira’s 39% stake in the Sachtleben joint venture. The agreement was signed on 14 February and the transaction was officially completed within a week. At the same time as announcing this acquisition, Rockwood made it clear that it is hoping to dispose of its TiO2 business later this year. Mr Seifi Ghasemi (Chairman & CEO of Rockwood) said: “Given our prior statements that the TiO2 business is non-core, it is our key objective this year to explore and execute on the best strategic option for Rockwood. Attaining 100% ownership of the joint venture provides us with the flexibility to achieve this goal in the timeframe and manner most optimal for maximising shareholder value.” To further facilitate the disposal of Sachtleben, Rockwood has used cash in hand to pay-off Sachtleben’s €394.5 M worth of term loans and debt assumed under a revolving credit facility. Sachtleben Pigments was created by the pooling of the TiO2 assets of Rockwood and Kemira and it began trading with effect from 1 September 2008. Sachtleben contributed its 100,000 tonnes/y sulfate-route TiO2 plant at Duisburg (Germany), while Kemira contributed its 130,000 tonnes/y sulfate-route TiO2 plant at Pori (Finland). The new entity, owned 61% by Rockwood and 39% by Kemira, had pro forma sales revenues of €556 M for full-year 2007. (See also ‘Focus on Pigments’, Jul 2008, 7). In July 2012, Sachtleben further expanded by acquiring the 107,000 tonnes/y sulfate-route TiO2 plant of Crenox (formerly Tronox Deutschland) at Krefeld-Uerdingen (Germany). Sachtleben now employs 2250 people – 1150 at Duisburg, 550 at Krefeld and 550 at Pori. Thus, Sachtleben became the world’s sixth largest TiO2 multinational, with a total TiO2 pigment capacity of nearly 340,000 tonnes/y. The company has a long-established reputation for supplying high-quality specialty grades of anatase TiO2 for the synthetic fibre, printing ink, food, MAY 2013