Oil and gas project won by Hempel in Spain
Hempel has secured the supply of coatings
for the extension of the facilities of Meroil
in the port of Barcelona. Meroil in partner-
ship with Litasco, a subsidiary of Russia-
based Lukoil, has been running for many
years a terminal with a storage capacity of
650,000 cubic meters in Barcelona. After
this extension the total storage will be
boosted to one million cubic meters in total.
The planned extension includes 13 new
tanks for the storage of different types of
gasoline and fuel. The order has been ob-
tained through Emypro, the primary con-
tractor for this project. The project will be
executed in 2011 and includes a total sup-
ply of 50,000 liters of coatings.
The planned extension of Meroil’s facility in
the port of Barcelona includes 13 new tanks
for the storage of different types of gasoline
and fuel.
Kansai bids $262m as
Freeworld Coatings faces
hostile takeover
Kansai Paint has offered to buy all the
shares it does not already own in Freeworld Coatings in a $262 million deal to
give it a big presence in South Africa and
a gateway to the continent. Osaka, Japan-based Kansai said it would offer 12 rand
per share for the 72.4 percent stake in
Freeworld it does not already own. Back
in October Kansai had become the top
shareholder in Freeworld and was in talks
to raise that to at least a majority stake.
Kansai said in a statement that several attempts to communicate with Freeworld’s
board had been unsuccessful.
“As a consequence of the reluctance of
the Freeworld board to engage, Kansai
believes that Freeworld’s shareholders be
given the opportunity to consider the
offer, and has therefore decided to proceed with the offer without the cooperation of the Freeworld board,” Kansai said
in a statement.
The Japanese company, one of the
world’s ten largest paint firms, said it had
secured agreements to accept or recommend the offer from fund managers representing 58.4 percent of the target shares.
South Africa’s Public Investment Corporation, which owns 6. 43 percent of Freeworld shares, gave an irrevocable
agreement to recommend the offer to its
clients, Kansai said.
Contrary to the Kansai announcement
Freeworld said in a statement that its
board has always been ready to meet with
Kansai and discuss issues relating to their
interest in Freeworld and is evident from
the meetings already held. It is also indicated in all correspondence with Kansai
and reiterated in Freeworld’s most recent
public comment on this approach.
Freeworld has said ownership by Kansai would raise competition-related concerns and discussions between the legal
teams of these two companies have so far
failed to resolve these differences. Freeworld said it is the view of its board that
the only way to resolve these differences is
through an approach to the Competition
Commission. Freeworld’s board initiated
such an approach, which was opposed by
Kansai. Now that Kansai has made a firm
offer possible competition related issues
will be considered by the commission.
BASF Coatings & Voestalpine
develop new façade for steel
innovation center
The silver facade design of the newly re-
opened voestalpine Steel Innovation Cen-
ter in Linz, Austria uses a new four-layer
paint system jointly developed by
voestalpine and BASF Coatings. The lab-
oratory complex offers optimal working
conditions for about 70 researchers and
testing engineers and cost around € 13 million. At the opening ceremony, BASF
Coatings was represented by Uwe
Pelchen, head of coil coatings sales Europe, and Dr. Lothar Jandel, head of technology management industrial coatings.
“We are very pleased that the successful
and long-term cooperation between our
two companies is truly publically visible
in the new metal façade of this important
representative building,” said Jandel.
The new voestalpine laboratory center
also attests to the current development of
the market. Wolfgang Eder, CEO of
voestalpine AG, said that every aspect of
steel has become “more diverse and more
colorful.” In addition to the sharp rise in
possible combinations within the groups
for materials and coatings from six combinations back in the 1970s to over 100
today, the challenge is now primarily in
nanotechnology, which makes it possible to
move into new, almost atomic, dimensions.
PPG begins operation of
Tianjin Aerospace Application
Support Center
With a total investment of $2.1 million in
two phases, PPG’s new aerospace applications support center will expand the capacity of its aerospace business and offer
high-quality products and services to the
aerospace industry in China. A grand opening at the facility in Tianjin Aerospace Industrial Park was attended by Tianjin Vice
Mayor Mr. Ren Xuefeng as well as officials
from Tianjin Municipal Government and
the Tianjin Aerospace Industrial Park. PPG
officials Charles E. Bunch, chairman and
CEO, Viktor Sekmakas, senior vice president, industrial coatings and president,
PPG Asia/Pacific, and Paul Bowman, general manager, aerospace, Asia/Pacific,
joined the government officials for a rib-bon-cutting ceremony and a facility tour.
“The Tianjin aerospace application
support center is the newest of 16 ASCs
PPG operates around the world, and it
will help PPG to better serve the growing