MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ashland has named Guillermo Novo, the former CEO of Versum Materials, as chairman and CEO of the company, effective 31 December, as per Chemweek.
Novo, who joined Ashland’s board in May, will replace William Wulfsohn, who is retiring.
Novo was president and CEO of Versum from 2016 to 2019, when the company was sold to Merck KGaA in a deal that closed yesterday. Prior to that, he was executive v.p./performance materials at Air Products from 2012 to 2016, and served in a variety of roles with Dow Chemical and Rohm and Haas from 1988 to 2012.
Jay Ihlenfeld, Ashland’s lead independent director, called Novo “a seasoned executive.” Wulfsohn, who has been CEO of Ashland since 2014, will assist with the transition between now and the end of the year.
Ashland’s board will consist of ten members after Wulfsohn’s departure at the end of December.
As MRC wrote before, INEOS Enterprises announced the completion of the acquisition of the entire composites business from Ashland Global Holdings Inc. on 3 September, 2019. The acquisition also includes a BDO facility in Germany. The businesses included in the transaction have combined sales of more than USD1.1 billion per year. They employ 1,250 employees across 19 sites in Europe, North and South America, Asia and Middle East.
We also remind that in mid-January 2019, INEOS announced Antwerp as the location for its new petrochemical investment. The EUR3 billion investment will be the biggest ever made by INEOS and is first cracker to be built in Europe in 20 years. The investment is a game changer for the chemical sectors and will bring huge benefits to the Belgium and wider European economies.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polyprolypele (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,255,800 tonnes in the first seven months of 2019, up by 9% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, the estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 796,120 tonnes in January-July 2019, up by 11% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.
Ashland Global Holdings Inc. is global specialty chemicals company serving customers in a wide range of consumer and industrial markets, including adhesives, architectural coatings, automotive, construction, energy, food and beverage, nutraceuticals, personal care and pharmaceutical.
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