Coatings World - April 2008

Aquence branded coating technology, previously marketed under the Autophoretic name, has grown steadily in a variety of industrial submarkets.

for the employees. Conway also said the Columbia name and the company’s 41 retail stores, including one in Helena, will remain.

DUPONT OPENS ITS
FIRST OFFICE IN BULGARIA

DuPont has announced the opening of its first office in Sofia, Bulgaria. The Sofia office represents DuPont’s growing market reach in Central Europe, following openings in Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, the Baltic countries and Serbia.

The new local office will provide access to customers in Bulgaria, Macedonia and Albania.

Next year, Bulgarian paint and coatings company, Megachim, and DuPont will launch a new product based on a know-how exchange under a trademark license agreement signed in June 2007.

As a result of this agreement,

DuPont Titanium Technologies (DTT) and Megachim recently announced a five-year partnership to launch a paint portfolio of architectural coatings that will be marketed under the DuPont Teflon brand.

COLUMBIA PAINT MANUFACTURING PLANT IN HELENA CLOSING The Columbia Paint & Coatings manufacturing plant in Helena, MT is closing in March. Columbia Paint Co., founded in Helena in 1947, was purchased last summer by Cleveland-based Sherwin-Williams. Helena’s paint manufacturing capacity will be moved to the Columbia plant in Spokane, WA, which is where the company’s main office has been based since 1974. Ten people will lose their jobs. Sherwin-Williams spokesman Mike Conway said the company is negotiating severance and retraining packages

SHERWIN-WILLIAMS ACQUIRES BECKER POWDER COATINGS IN
NORTH AMERICA; BECKERS ACQUIRES SHERWIN-WILLIAMS COIL
COATINGS IN NORTH AMERICA

The Sherwin-Williams Company has acquired Becker Powder Coatings Inc. in North America, a subsidiary of AB Wilh. Becker based in Sweden. Simultaneously, AB Wilh. Becker has acquired the North American coil coatings business of Sherwin-Williams. The business will be integrated into Becker Specialty Corporation, a Chicago-based subsidiary of AB Wilh. Becker.

Headquartered in Columbus, OH, Becker Powder Coatings Inc. produces powder coatings applied to appliances, metal furniture, fixtures, equipment and electronic products manufactured throughout North America.

Becker Powder Coatings has more than 45 employees and sales of approximately $14 million.

“This is another positive step in our strategy of steady growth and expansion with a quality set of products and people who provide excellent service to our customers,” said Christopher M. Connor, chairman and CEO, The Sherwin-Williams Company. “We are pleased to bring Becker Powder Coatings Inc., a well-respected company, and their employees into the Sherwin-Williams family.”

“As a leader in coil coatings, this acquisition, following our acquisition of Specialty Coatings Company, is another important step in growing our North American business,” said AB Wilh. Becker chairman and CEO, Jenny Linden Urnes. “We are excited that this enhances the position of both Beckers and Sherwin-Williams through the sale and purchase transactions of our North American powder and Sherwin-Williams’ coil coatings businesses respectively.”

EURONAVY TO BUILD INDUSTRIAL
PAINT FACTORY IN BRAZIL

Portuguese company Euronavy plans to build an industrial paint factory in Brazil, where this year the company won contracts worth a total of €30 million over the next five years. According to the company’s chairman Mário Paiva, the factory would be built in the port of Suape, to the south of the city of Recife, and production was expected to begin in 2009.

“We signed a protocol with the government of the Brazilian state of Pernambuco to set up a factory to manufacture marine and industrial paints, without heavy metals or solvents, representing an investment of € 10 million,” Paiva said.

With a production capacity of 4,000 tons per year, the new factory will be owned by the Portuguese company’s Brazilian subsidiary, which is 100% owned by the parent company, based in Setúbal, Portugal. The contracts won for this year are for anti-corrosive paint for 14 ships and an oil platform.

DUPONT AND SNIEZKA
SIGN LICENSING AGREEMENT

DuPont and Polish paint and coatings manufacturer Sniezka S. A. signed a trademark licensing agreement to use the DuPont Teflon brand. Sniezka will apply DuPont’s surface protector to a range of paints, enamels and wood products, with a targeted market introduction in March.

“Through our cooperation with DuPont, we will offer our customers coatings based on this worldwide recognized technology, giving us a substantial competitive advantage,” said Piotr Mikrut, CEO of Sniezka.