I ndustry News
Dow completes Rohm and Haas acquisition
The Dow Chemical Company has completed its acquisition of Rohm and
Haas. The deal will create a $14 billion diversified business portfolio,
which will be called Dow’s Advanced
Materials division. The division is
intended to achieve $3 billion in additional value growth opportunities, as
well as annual cost synergies of $1.3
billion. Rohm and Haas is the key element in Dow’s new Advanced
Materials division. Pierre Brondeau
has been named president and CEO of
this division, which includes Coatings,
Building and Construction, Specialty
Materials, Adhesives and Functional
Polymers, and Electronic Materials.
MERCK TO CUT BACK ON
PIGMENT PRODUCTION
German-based Merck KGaA is set to
cut back on pigment production in
Germany, the U.S., Japan and China.
The company said it would put
approximately 500 German pigment
workers on shorter hours but didn’t
expect job cuts domestically. The 500
affected German workers are at the
Gernsheim facility. Other production
sites in Savannah, GA/US; Onaham,
Japan and Songjiang, China would
also be affected by production cutbacks. Company spokesperson,
Phyllis Carter, wouldn’t say if that
meant facility shutdowns, shorter
hours programs or job cuts.
SSCT HOLDS ANNUAL MEETING
AND TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE
The 73rd Annual Meeting and
Technology Conference of the
Southern Society for Coatings
Technology (SSCT), was held at The
King and Prince Beach and Golf
Resort in St. Simons Island, Georgia
on March 15-18, 2009.
Leading off the Technical Sessions
was the keynote speaker, Stewart
Williams of Rohm & Haas Company
who presented “The Evolution of Green
Chemistry in Coatings.” The theme “On
the Seas of ‘Green’ Formulating,” continued to be explored through each of the
remaining sessions. Some of the speakers included: Laurie Morris, Alberdingk-Boley, Inc.; Matthew Linares, Evonik-Degussa Corporation; Mark Freshwater,
Lansco Colors; Thad Broome, Southern
Exposure & Consulting Co., LLC;
Gregory Turco, BASF Performance
Coatings; Scott Murray, Elementis
Specialties, Inc.; Chris Howard, Evonik,
Tego Coating Additives & Specialty
Resins; James Rawlins, The University
of Southern Mississippi; Romesh
Kumar, Clariant Corporation; Carl
Sullivan, Reichhold, Inc.; and Christine
Chase, Green Seal, Inc.
ALTANA ACQUIRES ADDITIVES
BUSINESS OF DYSTAR GROUP
The specialty chemicals Group
Altana has acquired the high-performance additives business of the
Frankfurt-based DyStar group effective as of March 30, 2009. The
acquired business with annual of
sales of approximately € 7. 5 million
will be integrated into the BYK
PRICING CHANGES
Dow: April 1–$0.04=$0.05/lb. increase for select
oxygenated solvents.
Oxea: March 1–€25/MT increase for n-butyl
acetate in Europe; April 1–€30/MT increase for n-/i-butyl acetate, n-/i-butanol and n-/i- butyraldehyde and €50/MT increase for n-propyl acetate,
n-propanol, di octyl phthalate and 2-ethyl hexa-nol in Europe.
DISTRIBUTOR APPOINTMENTS
AkzoNobel Functional Products has
Additives & Instruments division. It
mainly comprises the technologies for
the production of additives, for the
processing of plastics compounds and
the existing customer contacts. The
production of the additives will be
integrated into BYK´s main factory in
Wesel.
BASF EXECUTIVES TO TAKE
OVER CIBA CEO AND CFO ROLES
The board of directors of Ciba, now
part of BASF, has appointed Michael
Heinz from BASF as the new CEO of
Ciba. In addition to his role as CEO,
Heinz will continue with his responsibilities for the integration of Ciba
into BASF. Brendan Cummins is
stepping down from his role as CEO
and will remain at Ciba in an advisory capacity for the next few months.
Hans-Juergen Seeger, currently
managing director of BASF Services
Europe GmbH, has been appointed
CFO of Ciba, taking over from
Niklaus Meier who had been the ad
interim CFO, since the former CFO,
Juerg Fedier left the company at the
end of 2008.
MÜNZING SELLS LEATHER BUSINESS
Münzing has sold its leather business
appointed Archway Sales to distribute its
Bermcoll and Bermodol product lines in eastern
MI, IN with the exception of the northwest sec-
tion, OH, KY, WV, western PA, TN, MI, AK and
northern LA.
Hercules Specialty Resins has appointed
Ashland Distribution to distribute Ashland
Aqualon Functional Ingredients.
Vinavil has appointed Univar to distribute its
range of polymer dispersions and redispersible
powders in Germany.
