COMPANIESAzelis to sell Phillips Carbon Blackpigments throughout Europe

Azelis (headquartered in Antwerp),one of the world’s leading chemicaldistribution companies, has beenappointed as the European distributorfor carbon black pigmentsmanufactured by Phillips CarbonBlack Ltd (headquartered in Kolkata,India). Phillips has four carbon blackplants in India, with a total capacity of500,000 tonnes/y. Its Orient andRoyale pigment products are alreadyfairly well known in Europeanmarkets. As from 1 October 2013,existing arrangements with Europeancustomers for these products will begradually phased out and marketingwill be transferred to Azelis. The maintarget markets will be the rubber,plastics, inks and paint sectors.

Original Source: Chimie Pharma Hebdo, 14 Oct 2013,(650), (Website: http://www.industrie.com/chimie/) (inFrench), © ETAI Information 2013

DuPont will spin off PerformanceChemicals before mid-2015

On 23 July 2013, DuPont finallyannounced that it was consideringselling or spinning-off its TiO2business, giving formal credibility tohints and rumours that had beencirculating for several monthspreviously. This announcement,coupled with Huntsman’sannouncement eight weeks later thatit had agreed to buy Rockwood’s TiO2business, presage a major upheavalin the structure of the world TiO2industry. (See also ‘Focus onPigments’, Oct 2013, 1-2).

DuPont is the world’s largestsupplier of TiO2 pigments, with a total(end-2013) capacity of 1.27 Mtonnes/y, based on three plants in theUS (New Johnsonville, TN; DeLisle,MS; and EdgeMoor, DE), one plant inMexico (Altamira) and one plant inTaiwan (KuanYin). In May 2011, thecompany outlined a three-yearprogramme that would raise capacityat Altamira by 200,000 tonnes/y bythe installation of a second productionline and would raise capacity at allfive plants by a total of 150,000tonnes/y as a result of various“reaming-out” measures. (See ‘Focus

on Pigments’, Jun 2011, 5). Thetimetable for implementing thisprogramme has evidently slipped andit is now anticipated that DuPont’sglobal capacity will be 1.4 M tonnes/yby end-2014 and 1.6 M tonnes/y byearly 2016.

The business unit responsible formanaging the company’s TiO2pigments business is DuPont TitaniumTechnologies (DTT) and it alsomanages the company’s miningoperations in Florida, which contributeabout 10% of the TiO2 feedstockrequirements for making pigments aswell as generating by-product zirconand staurolite. For financial reportingpurposes, DTT’s results are groupedtogether with those for fluoro-polymers, fluorochemicals, aniline,cyanide, dimethyl sulfate, glycolic acidand various other industrial chemicalswithin the segment PerformanceChemicals. For 1H 2013, DuPontPerformance Chemicals reported pre-tax operating earnings at $515 M onsales revenues of $3.37 bn. Thatcompares against $1.165 bn on $3.87bn for 1H 2012. TiO2 pigment salesincreased by about 13% in tonnageterms, but realised selling prices weresubstantially lower. Overall, DuPont’spre-tax operating earnings for 1H2013 amounted to $3.5 bn on salesrevenues of $20.3 bn, comparedagainst $4.0 bn on $20.1 bn for 1H2012. Ms Ellen Kullman (Chairman &CEO) commented: “We expect todeliver full-year earnings modestlyabove last year’s ($6.25 bn), over-coming steep declines in the TiO2market and economic headwinds inEurope and parts of Asia.”

It is not known whether anysuitable candidates presented seriousoffers to buy DuPont’s TiO2 business,which would be valued at $4-6 bn ormore. Private equity funds, such asApollo, Blackstone and Trian hadbeen rumoured as possiblecandidates. Anyway, furtherspeculation on a possible sale wassquashed by DuPont’s declaration on24 October that it had decided to spin-off the Performance Chemicalssegment as a complete entity. MsKullman said: “Following a thoroughstrategic review process over the pastyear, the spin-off of PerformanceChemicals is clearly the best option todeliver enhanced value for ourshareholders. This separation willadvance the transformation of DuPont

and will result in two strong, highlycompetitive companies. Afterseparation, DuPont will have theoptimum portfolio and will benefit frommore consistent earnings growth andlower volatility, enhancing our abilityto deliver more sustained growth andinvest in future opportunities.Performance Chemicals will emergeas a top global industrial chemicalscompany with industry leadingproducts and strong cashflow.”

The separation will be executed asa tax-free spin-off, probably during thefirst half of 2015. Immediately onseparation, the PerformanceChemicals business will be 100%owned by DuPont shareholders.

Original Source: DuPont Titanium Technologies,Wilmington, DE 19880-0036, USA (23 Jul & 24 Oct2013), © DuPont 2013

Synalloy buys Color Resources

The Synalloy group (headquartered inSpartanburg, SC) recently paid $3.45M to acquire the entire business andassets of Color Resources LLC,including the plant at Fountain Inn,SC. Color Resources is essentially atoll manufacturer and in future it willoperate as a division within Synalloy’sSpecialty Chemicals segment. MrTony Jones (President of ColorResources) has been appointed asVice President, Sales for CRI Tolling.Mr Craig Bram (President and CEO ofSynalloy) said: “A key strategicinitiative of our Specialty ChemicalsSegment was to acquire or build asecond production facility. OurManufacturing Chemicals (MC)business has experienced continuousgrowth over the past five years andwe have many opportunities to furtherpenetrate existing markets, as well asdevelop new ones, including those inthe energy industry. Productioncapacity at our Cleveland, TN facilitywas getting tight. The addition of theColor Resources facility provides uswith ample room to grow.” Over thenext 18 months, Synalloy plans toinvest $3.5 M in the Fountain Innfacility, so as to effectively replicatethe production capabilities alreadyavailable at Cleveland.

Original Source: Synalloy Corp, PO Box 5627,Spartanburg, SC 29304, USA, tel: +1 (864) 585 3605,website: http://www.synalloy.com (29 Aug 2013), © Synalloy Corporation 2013

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