A New Look
for a New Year
The last two years have certainly been a period of uncertainty for most in- dustries. 2009 started off grimly for the paint and coatings market but it slowly started to pick up pace towards the end of the year. Moving into
2010, many industry players were cautious but nevertheless hopeful that the year
would bring about the recovery of the industry back to more acceptable levels.
As we begin 2011, the experts Coatings World talked to for this issue in the
pigments and additives markets are cautiously optimistic that gains will be made
towards pre-recession levels. This will be a challenge as both pigment and additive manufacturers are plagued with supply and pricing issues, which will be with
us for the foreseeable future, especially as oil prices continue to climb.
Despite these challenges, firms are not holding back with launching innovative technologies. Paint makers are endlessly looking to reduce costs and VOCs
while increasing production speed to maximize profit. It’s usually the raw material suppliers tasked with developing novel approaches to produce new coatings
technologies. On page 30 of this issue you find some of the latest innovations to
hit the market for interior architectural coatings.
You might have noticed by now that we’ve received a bit of a makeover from
the Art Department over here. The team did a great job designing a new, cleaner
and fresher look for Coatings World. I think it looks great and hope you do too.
I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome aboard Dan G. Watson
as our new China correspondent (page18). Dan is the managing director of Blair-gowrie Associates LLC and a senior partner with the Alliance Management
Group. Previously he was worldwide director of new platform development with
Eastman Kodak and Eastman Chemical Company and the Asia/Pacific regional
director for Rohm and Haas Company with more than 20 years experience in
the China region.
Dan has covered China for us before and has done such a good job that we
figured we needed to bring him aboard as a regular columnist. So if you really
want to keep your hand on the pulse of the China beat, make sure you tune in
every month for Dan’s insights into what is the most important region in terms
of its impact on our industry.
At the top of the news has been the hostile takeover Freeworld Coatings faces
at the hands of Kansai Paint. We’ve been reporting since last summer that it
looked like South Africa-based Freeworld would be on the chopping block this
year, but as we go to press, it looks like the firm is still holding on.
Kansai Paint 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.
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. It will be interesting to see how this plays out
in the coming months, and whether Kansai will be able to get a firm grip on the
developing African continent.
TWRIGHT@RODPUB.COM
6 | Coatings World
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