AkzoNobel to Divest German Paint Stores
AkzoNobel will divest its decorative
paints stores for professionals in Germany
to independent wholesale distributors.
The move is intended to strengthen the
performance of the company’s German
Decorative Paints business by focusing its activities on the distribution and
marketing of paint under brands such as
Sikkens, Herbol and Consolan, according
to the company.
“We are changing the marketing
strategy of our German Decorative
Paints business to focus on our key or-
ganizational strengths of marketing and
distributing our strong paint brands,”
said Ruud Joosten, the company’s execu-
tive committee member responsible for
Decorative Paints. “This is part of our
ongoing efforts to strengthen both our
organizational efficiency and our profit-
ability in Germany.”
The company currently operates
72 German stores selling professional
paint and third party products, with the
Decorative Paints organization employing
approximately 950 people in Germany.
In total, AkzoNobel’s Decorative Paints,
Performance Coatings and Specialty
Chemicals businesses have 3,900 employ-
ees in Germany, along with 17 manufac-
turing plants and eight offices, generating
revenue of close to €1.3 billion in the
country in 2012.
The new set-up will allow AkzoNobel
to select the most efficient distribution
channels for its professional paint products, rather than operating its own stores.
The company intends to enter into strategic partnership agreements with the
future shop owners, as well as strengthening its relationship with its existing network of independent distributors.
Commenting on the company’s
plans, Werner Fuhrmann, the Executive
Committee member responsible for
Specialty Chemicals and Germany,
said: “Germany has always been, and
will remain, an important market for
AkzoNobel. The company is continuing
8 | Coatings World
to invest in Germany, evidenced by recent
acquisitions including Schramm (2011),
Lindgens Metal Decorating Coatings
(2010), Dow Chemicals’ Rohm & Haas
business (2010) and LII Europe (2009).
A total of €140 million is also being invested in new technology at a chemicals
plant in Frankfurt, which is expected to
go on stream in the first quarter of 2014.”
AkzoNobel will also be reviewing its
office footprint in Germany.
“These improvements are intended to
reduce complexity and further improve
the operational efficiency of our German
activities,” added Fuhrmann. “They will
boost our competitiveness and help us
to greater success for our businesses in
Germany going forward.”
PPG and Agrex Form Long-
Term Agreement
PPG Industries Inc. and Argex Titanium
Inc. have entered into a long-term supply
agreement involving pigment grade titanium dioxide (TiO2). Per the agreement,
PPG will provide continued research and
development support to develop and optimize TiO2 for paints and coatings.
The companies will combine PPG’s
coatings technology and expertise with
Argex’s TiO2 proprietary processing technology. TiO2 is a raw material widely
used in the paint and coatings industry
as pigment for its hiding, durability and
whiteness characteristics.
The current agreement replaces the
previous collaboration agreement that
was entered in April 2012 between the
two companies to utilize PPG’s existing
technology and know-how relating to the
manufacture of TiO2 pigment for paints
and coatings applications.
Argex Titanium Inc. has recently
transitioned from a mining exploration
company to a near-term producer of
commodities: titanium dioxide (TiO2)
and iron and vanadium pentoxide
(V2O5). With the primary goal of advancing rapidly towards production,
www.coatingsworld.com
Argex has adopted a simple and low risk
strategy for the scale-up of its proprietary process that allows it to produce
high purity TiO2 directly from its 100
percent owned deposit.
Dr. Nicolai Cramer of EPF
Lausanne receives BASF
Catalysis Award 2013
For his outstanding research contributions to catalytic processes in synthesis of
biologically active molecules, Professor
Dr. Nicolai Cramer received the BASF
Catalysis Award 2013. Cramer heads
the laboratory of asymmetric catalysis
and synthesis at the École Polytechnique
Fédérale (EPF) in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The prize, worth € 10,000, was presented by Dr. Andreas Kreimeyer, member
of the board of executive directors of
BASF SE and research executive director,
at the “Heidelberg Forum of Molecular
Catalysis,” a symposium of international
experts organized jointly by Heidelberg
University, Collaborative Research
Center 623 “Molecular Catalysts” and
BASF SE.
“Catalysis is an important key technology for the chemical industry and is
an indispensable tool for accessing new
feedstocks and developing new energy
efficient production processes,” said
Kreimeyer. As a company with a leading
international research and development
platform for catalysts, BASF therefore attaches particular importance to promoting excellent young researchers in this
field.
With his research group centered at
EPF Lausanne, Cramer is working in the
field of enantioselective metal-catalyzed
transformations and their implementation for the synthesis of complex biologically active molecules. The Cramer lab
works on the development of broadly
applicable catalytic methods for the selective functionalization of relatively inert C-H and C-C bonds with different
transition-metal complexes.
