Arsenal Capital to acquire pigments and dispersions supplier Plasticolors

(plasteurope) -- Arsenal Capital Partners (New York / USA) has announced plans to acquire pigments and dispersions supplier Plasticolors (Ashtabula, Ohio / USA) and merge it with Evonik Industries' (Essen / Germany) Colortrend global colourants business. Arsenal completed the purchase of Colortrend last month.

Plasticolors and Colortrend will be merged to create a new company, Chromaflo Technologies (Ashtabula), which Arsenal said will be the world's largest independent global pigment dispersion platform.

Chromaflo Technologies will have production facilities in the USA, Canada, The Netherlands and Australia, plus sales and technical operations in North and South America, Europe, Australia, China, Malaysia and India.

MRC

(hydrocarbonprocessing) -- Houston-based Westlake Chemical said Friday that it withdrew its proposal to acquire US-based vinyls and aromatics company Georgia Gulf after failing to strike an agreeable deal.

The company said that following talks with Georgia Gulf's management under the terms of a confidentiality agreement, it notified Georgia Gulf that it had withdrawn its proposal and does not intend to continue to pursue a deal.

Westlake, a manufacturer and supplier of petrochemicals, polymers and building products, also said it plans to liquidate its holdings of Georgia Gulf common stock as market conditions permit.

"We are disappointed in this result but we continue to work on our previously announced important strategic initiatives as well as to look for other opportunities to grow our business, said Albert Chao, CEO of Westlake.

⌠We believe that we are well-positioned for future success." Westlake made its first bid to acquire Georgia Gulf in January. Once rejected, it raised the offer in early February.

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(chemeurope) -- Lanxess is strengthening its ties with automotive customers in the growing Asia-Pacific region. The specialty chemicals company will open a new application development center in the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park in the second half of 2012.

The new center will have computer aided development and engineering facilities, as well as a parts testing center, focusing on the company's high-tech plastics Durethan and Pocan.

Lanxess is already established in the Asian region through its flagship brands for high-tech plastics Durethan (polyamide) and Pocan (polybutylene terephthalate), which represent a lighter-weight plastic alternative to metals such as steel or aluminum.

In addition, they enable carmakers and car parts suppliers to realize considerable savings by providing less costly production methods and easier assembly. They can be found, for example, in engine bearings, door structures, front ends and seat cross-members.

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(chemeurope) -- Specialty chemicals company Lanxess is strengthening its butyl rubber plant in Zwijndrecht, Belgium. The company has significantly invested to expand the production capacity of the existing plant and to build two new pilot plants for the development of production technology for butyl rubber.

LANXESS is one of the world's largest producers of butyl rubber, which is mainly used in the production of tires. The biggest share of butyl rubber produced in Zwijndrecht is premium halobutyl rubber.

⌠This investment underpins the major role that our butyl rubber production here in Zwijndrecht plays in our global strategy. Our plans for continued growth are founded on innovation and technology that serves the global megatrends - with the primary focus on solutions for sustainable mobility, said Axel C. Heitmann, Chairman of the Board of Management at Lanxess, during the official opening ceremony.
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(packwebasia) -- Noticeably increasing demand towards very high clarity packaging articles at reasonable price has led National Petrochemical Industrial Co. (NATPET) to upgrade its range of polypropylene random copolymers.

The Saudi Arabian company has introduced two new grades in its Teldene range, both containing Milliken's Millad NX 8000 latest-generation clarifying agent, aimed principally at markets for thin-walled injection molded food and non-food containers, especially in Europe, Turkey, the Middle East, and Asia.

NATPET said, "As living standards improve in emerging markets, end-users are putting increasing emphasis on aesthetics when buying products such as food storage containers. The new grades cater for this demand. Additional advantage of this grade by virtue of having Millad NX 8000 is that it enables the converters to achieve added benefit of considerable energy and cost savings (value for price) by processing the grade at lower temperatures and cycle times than by similar products in the market."


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