Purchase increases presence in attractive automotive refinish and provides synergies with Valspar's existing business
MINNEAPOLIS, May 27, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The Valspar Corporation announced today that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire the performance coatings businesses of Quest Specialty Chemicals, Inc., which include automotive refinish and industrial coatings. The transaction, which is expected to close in the company's third fiscal quarter, is subject to customary closing conditions. Financial terms were not disclosed.
With 2014 sales of approximately $190 million, the businesses to be acquired from Quest include an automotive refinish business along with a smaller industrial products business. Quest Automotive Products formulates, manufactures, and distributes a complete line of advanced technology paints, coatings systems, and accessories to professional refinishers under the well-respected brands of Matrix®, Prospray®, and USC®, primarily in North America and Europe. Quest Industrial Products serves both the professional and consumer markets with aerosol spray products and highly-specified coatings for industrial applications under the Patriot®, Raabe® and Precision Color® brands, primarily in North America.
"The acquisition strengthens Valspar's value proposition in automotive refinish," said Gary Hendrickson,Valspar Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "Our customers will benefit from expanded distribution of a portfolio of preferred brands they know and trust, a broader range of high-performance products and a stronger service network. We are pleased to welcome the Quest team to the Valspar family to help deliver these benefits to our customers."
Valspar is a global automotive coatings manufacturer and takes pride in delivering the very best in color-matching technology, support and service. Valspar's global color labs and tools allow us to match any OEM and/or custom color. Multiple OEM approvals include: Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, Mazda andToyota. Valspar's global portfolio of preferred brands include: DeBeer Refinsh®, Octoral™, Valspar® Refinish and House of Kolor®. Visit www.valsparauto.com.
Valspar: If it matters, we're on it.®
Valspar is a global leader in the coatings industry providing customers with innovative, high-quality products and value-added services. Our 10,500 employees worldwide deliver advanced coatings solutions with best-in-class appearance, performance, protection and sustainability to customers in more than 100 countries. Valspar offers a broad range of superior coatings products for the consumer market, and highly-engineered solutions for the construction, industrial, packaging and transportation markets. Founded in 1806, Valspar is headquartered in Minneapolis. Valspar's reported net sales in fiscal 2014 were$4.5 billion and its shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol:VAL). For more information, visit www.valspar.com and follow @valsparCo on Twitter.
Source: Valspar web site via J Spiel Chemistry News Bulletin
Industry highlights:
Crude oil prices hold steady as US production slows
US contract prices for May increased by 1c/lb. US butadiene supply/demand balance is tight
Europe's monthly contract price for butadiene increased by €40/t after unplanned outages reduced supply
US light vehicle sales stay strong as buyers tastes trend back to trucks and SUV's because of lower gasoline prices
In the news:
Spanish oil and gas firm Repsol has declared force majeure on ethylene and butadiene supply. The 702,000 t/yr olefins cracker at Repsol's Tarragona petrochemical complex went offline due to a technical issue.
Argus DeWitt Butadiene Annual 2015 observations:
The global butadiene market is still largely dependent on world GDP development after the economic crisis 2007-2009. Slower than expected recovery has restricted growth in both domestic demand and imports of finished and semi-finished goods.
The predominant domestic issue is that after 2-3 years of rapid expansion, there is a huge overcapacity for butadiene and synthetic rubber. It is estimated it will take another 3-4 years for demand growth to return operating rates to reinvestment levels. Uncertainty over China's economic growth rates and crude oil pricing are important issues to observe closely in 2015, and will heavily influence demand recovery.
DATE : 2015-05-13
Camlin Fine Sciences has received an approval for acquisition of land admeasuring 64,407.91 square meters and setting up a manufacturing facility for Hydroquinone/ Catechol and its down steam products Guaiacol and Vanillin at Dahej SEZ, Bharuch District in state of Gujarat. The board of directors at their meeting held on May 12, 2015 has approved for the same.The board also approved setting up a wholly owned subsidiary (WOS) Company in Mexico for undertaking trading and distribution of Antioxidants, food ingredients, Blends, Formulations, feeds, performance chemicals etc in Central American markets.Further, the company will be setting up a WOS Company in China for undertaking trading and distribution of Antioxidants, food ingredients, Blends, Formulations, feeds, performance chemicals etc in Chinese markets.Camlin Fine Chemicals is the world's second largest manufacturer and marketer of food grade antioxidants TBHQ and BHA.
Camlin Fine Sciences plans to set up new manufacturing facility at Dahej in Gujarat with an investment of Rs 193 crore. The plant will have annual capacity to produce 9,000 tonne of Hydroquinoneand 6,000 tonne of Vanillin. The company envisages that the new plant will help the company become a major supplier of Diphenol and Catecholand Vanillin as well as its derivative and down-stream products. The land has been acquired by the company at an investment of Rs eight crore and it has applied for environment clearances. The basic engineering work has started and the plant would be commissioned by September 2017.
SOURCE : Panafrican News Agency
May 11, 2015: Nippon Shokubai has confirmed plans to expand superabsorbent polymer (SAP) production and to build a acrylic acid unit at the company’s site at Zwijndrecht, Belgium (close to the Ineos Oxide Site)
Nippon Shokubai will invest a total of €350 million to build the SAP andacrylic acid plants. The company's board of directors, in a meeting held on 11 May, approved the investment.
SAP capacity at the site will be increased by 100 kt/yr to 160 kt/yr and theacrylic acid plant will have a capacity of 100 kt/yr.
Completion of the projects is expected in October 2017, and commercial production is expected to begin in May 2018.
Nippon Shokubai expects demand for SAP in Europe, especially in Central and Eastern Europe, will grow steadily.
Last October, Nippon Shokubai announced plans to expand SAP productionat the company’s Himeji (Japan), site by 50 kt/yr to 370 kt/yr.
With these expansions of SAP capacity, Nippon Shokubai’s global SAP production capacity will increase to 710 kt/yr, including:
- 370 kt/yr at Himeji (Japan)
- 160 kt/yr in Belgium
- 90 kt/yr in Indonesia
- 60 kt/yr in the US
- 30 kt/yr in China
With the new acrylic acid capacity in Belgium, Nippon Shokubai’s total global acrylic acid production capacity will increase to 880 kt/yr, including:
- 540 kt/yr in Japan
- 340 kt/yr overseas
The surprise for some was that Nippon Shokubai did not decide to form a joint venture or supply agreement with an existing acrylic acid producer in Europe for its SAP project (Reminder: we assume that the Glacial Acrylic Acid required by the existing 60 kT Antwerp SAP plant of Nippon Shokubai is supplied by the nearby Acrylic Acid plant of BASF-Antwerp)
It will be also interesting to follow developments in Russia in light of this new announcement as there is an existing plan to build an 80 kT acrylic acid plant in Russia. As previously reported, this Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat project is already rumoured to be delayed beyond its announced 2016 completion date due to the tightening of credit in Russia.
Sources: Competitive Intelligence Blog-Jerome Spiel (from Nippon Shokubai, Chemweek data) + Tecnon Orbichem Comments
Cargill acquires all assets of OPX Biotechnologies including its fermentation EDGE technology (bio-based route to acrylic acid)
May 8, 2015: Cargill has acquired the fermentation-based processes andsystems of OPX Biotechnologies that had been working on a biobased route to acrylic acid with Dow Chemical.
Cargill purchased substantially all the assets of OPXBio, including thecompany’s EDGE technology, and will be moving them to its facilities inMinneapolis.
OPXBio will be winding down operations when the transaction is completed.
OPXBio will continue to operate through the transition period, which is expected to be 6 to 9 months.
Financial terms have not been disclosed.
Mike Rosenberg, CEO of OPX Biotechnologies, tells to Chemweek that his company terminated its relationship with Dow last September, when their joint development agreement expired: “The companies elected to pursue commercialization on their own. OPXBio elected to pursue a licensing strategyand was in discussions with a potential third party to jointly pursue thatstrategy when the Cargill transaction closed”.
Cargill has been targeting a renewable route to acrylic acid for a number of years.
Cargill also partnered with Novozymes in 2008 to develop microorganisms thatcould efficiently convert renewable feedstock into the platform chemical 3-hydroxypropionic acid (3HP).
BASF joined the project in August 2012 to develop a process for convertingthe biobased 3HP into acrylic acid but exit the collaboration last Januarybecause BASF could not reach the targets for commercializing a dextrose-based product and it did not view investing in scaling up as a viable option.
https://engage-solvay.jiveon.com/groups/blog-competitive-intelligence/blog/2012/ 09/05/basf-cargill-and-novozymes-to-develop-commercial-bio-based-acrylic-acid-p r ocess and https://engage-solvay.jiveon.com/groups/blog-competitive-intelligence/blog/2015/ 01/30/basf-exits-biobased-acrylic-acid-collaboration-with-novozymes-and-cargill
Source: Blog Competitive Intelligence-Jerome Spiel from Chemweek.
DATE : 2015-05-05
Petronas Chemicals Group Berhad (PCG) and BASF will construct a new global-scale manufacturing facility for 2-Ethylhexanoic acid at the BASF Petronas Chemicals site in Kuantan, Malaysia. Construction of the plant, which will have 30,000 tonnes/y of 2-EHAcid capacity, will start in 2Q 2015. Production is scheduled to commence in 4Q 2016.
SOURCE Icis News