fillers in tire, industrial, footwear
and silicone rubber applications;
as microporous fillers in battery-separator applications; as flatting and thickening agents in coatings,
adhesives and sealants; and as anti-cak-ing, free-flow and carrier agents in food,
feed and industrial applications.
Wacker Expands Production
Capacity for Dispersions at
Burghausen Site
Wacker Chemie AG is expanding its existing production plants for polymeric
binders in Germany. The Munich-based
chemical group is currently building
another dispersion reactor with an annual capacity of 60,000 metric tons at its
Burghausen site. Some € 25 million have
been earmarked for the production and
local-infrastructure expansion. The plant
is scheduled for completion before the
end of the year.
Wacker’s dispersions are commonly
used to formulate low-odor and low-emission indoor paints, but can also be
found in plasters, adhesives, carpet applications or technical textiles. Moreover,
they are the key raw material for the production of dispersible polymer powders
for construction applications. WACKER
manufactures these powders by spray
drying at its Burghausen site.
“The enlargement of our dispersion
production in Burghausen is part of our
strategy to achieve further profitable
growth through expansions at existing
production plants,” said Rudolf Staudigl,
president & CEO of Wacker Chemie AG,
explaining the investment measure. “The
additional capacity will strengthen our
market position as one of the world’s
leading manufacturers of dispersions and
dispersible polymer powders, and will
help us meet our customers’ continuously
increasing demand over the long term,”
emphasized the Group CEO.
In this way, WACKER is taking account of the globally rising demand for
high-quality polymeric binders, which is
being driven by worldwide trends such
as urbanization, renovation and energy
efficiency. Alongside the new reactor, the
Group is also investing in the expansion
and modernization of local infrastructure.
“We are not only making a key contribution to supply security in the years to
come, but also to the cost-efficient production of our dispersions and dispersible polymer powders,” explained Peter
Summo, head of the Wacker Polymers
business division.
Orion Engineered Carbons
to Expand Specialty Carbon
Black Capacity in Sweden
Orion Engineered Carbons S.A., a
worldwide supplier of specialty and
high-performance carbon black, has
announced that it will expand production capacity at its Norcarb Engineered
Carbons AB plant in Malmö, Sweden.
Debottlenecking of a line will provide
additional specialty carbon black to supply the growing fibers, wire & cable and
adhesives & sealants markets.
“The expansion of capacity in Malmö
is one more step in Orion’s rapid realignment of our portfolio toward higher value
added specialty and technical rubber applications,” said Jack Clem, Orion’s Chief
Executive Officer. “Products from Malmö
will primarily support our customers in
Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific.
This action is a reflection of the high confidence of our customers in Orion’s products and technical support capabilities.”
Tronox to Acquire Cristal’s
TiO2 Business
Tronox has announced a definitive
agreement to acquire the TiO2
business of Cristal, a privately held global chemical and mining company, for
$1.673 billion of cash and Class A
ordinary shares representing 24 percent ownership in pro forma Tronox.
Concurrently with this announcement,
the company announced its intent to
begin a process to sell its Alkali business. The cash portion of the purchase
consideration is expected to be funded
through proceeds from the sale of assets, including the sale of Alkali and
selected other non-core assets if appropriate, and cash on hand.
The combination of the TiO2 busi-
nesses of Tronox and Cristal creates one
of the world’s largest and most highly
integrated TiO2 pigment producers with
assets and operations on six continents.
The combined company will operate 11
TiO2 pigment plants in eight countries;
total capacity will be 1.3 million metric
tons per annum; and will have titanium
feedstock operations in three countries
with a total capacity of 1.5 million metric
tons per annum.
“We are pleased to announce the
highly synergistic combination of the
TiO2 businesses of Tronox and Cristal
that will bring significant value to our
shareholders, our customers and our
employees,” said Tom Casey, Tronox
chairman and CEO. “Because we don’t
expect to take on new debt, we project
a 50 percent reduction in our net lever-
age ratio. EPS accretion of more than
100 percent is expected in year one and
we believe that between 2018 to 2021
our projected pro forma EPS, EBITDA
and free cash flow growth rates will
improve by approximately 70 percent,
30 percent and 60 percent, respectively,
versus Tronox standalone. We believe
this combination presents an extraor-
dinary opportunity to build a global
leader that will offer the best results to
customers, shareholders, creditors and
employees.”
“Our intent to sell Alkali comes at an
attractive time as the global market for
natural soda ash is recovering and pric-
es are improving. Alkali has continually
sold every ton of product it produces. The
caliber of the Alkali workforce and their
commitment to safe, high-quality produc-
tion are unmatched in the natural soda
ash industry. I thank the leadership team
and all Alkali employees for their contri-
butions to Tronox,” added Casey.
Tasnee CEO Mutlaq Al-Morished
commented, “This transaction enables
Cristal and Tronox to position the com-
bined businesses for long-term success
in the TiO2 industry. This also allows
Tasnee to focus on its petrochemical as-
sets, downstream business and other stra-
tegic business development opportunities,
while substantially deleveraging its bal-
ance sheet.”
“This agreement will create the
most diverse manufacturing platform
of any titanium dioxide company. The
resulting global network and synergies
