Coatings World - July 2016

that it has struck an agreement with Dale Earnhardt Jr. to become the primary sponsor of his digital platform. The agreement is a multi-year partnership and will encompass his official home page, www.DaleJr.com; his company’s home page, www.JRMracing.com; his podcast network, Dirty Mo Radio and all videos including the popular weekly series JRM

360.

JR Motorsports platforms will also feature Axalta-related content. Axalta will be the primary presenter of the Dirty Mo Radio podcast Listorically Speaking, which uses fan polling and lists to determine the most memorable moments in Earnhardt Jr.’s racing career. Axalta will also offer exclusive content to its social media followers such as inside videos and imagery.

Earnhardt Jr. has won 26 races includ-
ing two Daytona 500s, in a NASCAR
Sprint Cup Series career that is now in its
18th season. He is a 13-time winner of
NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver award
as voted by the fans. On March 14, it was
announced that Earnhardt Jr. is a final-
ist for Sports Business Journal’s 2016

Sports Business Awards for the category of “Best in Sports Social Media.”

Sika Establishes National
Subsidiary in Kuwait,
Expanding its Position in
the Middle East

Sika has expanded its position in the Middle East by establishing a new national subsidiary in Kuwait. The creation of this 94th subsidiary worldwide marks a further step forward in the implementation of Sika’s growth strategy, which aims to expand the Group’s international presence to 100 national subsidiaries by

2018.

Kuwait’s construction market is set to
grow at a tremendous pace, with invest-
ments of just under $30 billion in the fo-
cus areas of real estate and infrastructure,
Sika noted. Key construction projects
at the national level include an airport
extension and upgrade of the
metropolitan transportation net-
work, which alone account for a
total investment of $13 billion.

The new national subsidiary positions Sika to supply high-quality concrete admixtures and refurbishment products directly to customers in Kuwait and to benefit from the country’s booming construction market. Sika products are already being used in the construction of a new university and several roadbuild-ing projects. The Kuwait market has been serviced from neighboring countries since 2010.

With national subsidiaries in 13 countries, Sika has an extensive local presence in the Middle East. In Qatar, where a subsidiary was established in 2013, Sika recently won a “mega project.” In the first phase of work on the world’s biggest concrete-reinforced reservoir, more than 350,000 m² of Sika Proof A and Sika Proof P membranes are being laid for waterproofing. CW