arising from consolidation of businesses
will allow us to better meet customer
needs worldwide and provide a more
sustainable business. The success of the
new company will come from its people, and I have no doubt that they will
take the knowledge, skill, commitment
and passion that they have shown in the
past to help in building a new world-class company,” said Dr. Talal Al-Shair,
vVice chairman, Tasnee and chairman
of Cristal.
Details of the business deal include:
•The acquisition has received the
unanimous approval of the Tronox
and Cristal boards of directors
• The transaction is subject to the
approval by Tronox Class A and B
shareholders, voting as a single class,
as well as regulatory approvals and
customary closing conditions
• Closing is expected to occur before
the first quarter 2018
• Tronox anticipates completing the
sale of its Alkali business in the second half of 2017.
Tom Casey will remain chairman and
chief executive officer of the company.
The size of the company’s board of directors will remain unchanged at nine members. Cristal’s owners will receive two
of the nine existing Board seats. Exxaro
Mineral Resources will remain on the
Board with its three seats. The company’s
corporate offices will remain in Stamford,
Conn., and it will continue as a public
company listed on the New York Stock
Exchange and remain incorporated in the
state of Western Australia, Australia.
Repair Work on Schedule at
BASF’s TDI Plant
BASF has announced that the repair
work in its Ludwigshafen’s TDI plant
is on schedule. At the end of November
2016, production in the TDI plant was
idled due to a technical defect.
The impacted part of the plant, a
damaged reactor, will be temporarily
replaced by a backup reactor. The TDI
plant will be restarted and will run at a
reduced capacity. In the transition period that follows, planned shutdowns
will take place. The damaged reactor
will be repaired and a new reactor will
be ordered. Due to the long delivery
time for the new reactor, BASF expects
the final repair work to be completed
in 2018. The supply to customers is
secured via BASF’s global TDI production network.
TDI (toluene diisocyanate) is a core
component for polyurethanes. It is mainly used in the furniture industry (elastic
foams for mattresses, cushions or wood
coating) and the automotive industry
(seat cushions).
Synthomer to Invest € 20
Million in Dispersion Plant
in Worms, Germany
Synthomer will invest € 20 million in
its dispersion plant located in Worms,
Germany. The investment adds several
new and fully automated production
lines for acrylic-dispersions. The plant
extension strengthens the company’s continuous growth in paints & coatings, construction chemicals, technical textiles as
well as adhesives and sealants.
The production plant in
Worms is Synthomer’s largest
acrylic site in Europe, being strategically well located with close
proximity to the customer base and excellent connections to the river Rhine, railway and road.
The investment will add 30,000 tons
to its existing capacity. The high flexibility of the newly constructed lines enables
further organic growth in the specialty
segments, since more than 25 percent of
the new capacity will be utilized by innovative, highly environmentally friendly
products.
The expansion will allow shorter
supply lead times and meet highest production and quality standards. This investment further strengthens Synthomers
pan-European dispersion plant network
across the United Kingdom, Germany,
Czech Republic, France, Italy and Spain.
The project is expected to complete by
third quarter 2018.
Green Biologics &
Jungbunzlauer Partner to
Bring Bio-Based Plasticizers
to Market
Green Biologics, Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Green Biologics Ltd., a UK industrial biotechnology and renewable
chemicals company, announced an exclusive collaboration with Jungbunzlauer
Ladenburg GmbH, the German operating unit of Jungbunzlauer Suisse AG in
Basel, Switzerland. In February 2017,
Jungbunzlauer received its first shipment
of 100 percent renewable BioPure n-butanol from Green Biologics’ production
