MOSCOW (MRC) -- Benjamin Moore says it has acquired Shaw Paints Ltd (Slough, United Kingdom), a paints and coatings distributor operating in the UK, according to Chemweek.
Terms of the transaction, including purchase price, were not disclosed. Since 2015, Shaw Paints has acted as Benjamin Moore’s exclusive paints distributor in the UK, and the firm will be rebranded as Benjamin Moore UK.
Craig and Helen Shaw, co-founders of Shaw Paints, will remain with the company and help run the UK business. Benjamin Moore UK will retain showrooms in Slough, Chelsea and Wilmslow.
The deal “will enable Benjamin Moore to increase scale throughout the region and offer our best-in-class products to more UK customers,” says Benjamin Moore CEO Dan Calkins.
Benjamin Moore is owned by Berkshire Hathaway, the investment holding company founded by billionaire Warren Buffet.
As MRC reported earlier, chemical companies across the UK are “battling through the pandemic and the threat of a Brexit no deal,” in November said the Chemical Industries Association (CIA; London). According to the CIA’s latest quarterly survey of its members, chemical businesses saw a modest expansion in the third quarter with the survey’s sales diffusion index reaching 55.4 and export growth to non-EU countries registering 56.5. Any figure above 50 represents growth. The overall performance index was 51.5, beating forecasts, CIA says. Despite new COVID-19 restrictions in the UK, the increases in sales and exports are predicted to continue into the fourth quarter, CIA says. For 2021, 57% of UK chemical businesses expect to see sales climb further, with more global export growth anticipated.
We remind that SABIC Europe declared a force majeure on its low density polyethylene (LDPE) supplies from Wilton, the UK on November 3, 2020. The company had shut its LDPE plant for a maintenance work in the first half of October. The Wilton unit is able to produce 400,000 tons/year of LDPE.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, October estimated LDPE consumption in Russia grew to 50,030 tonnes from 23,930 tonnes a month earlier. Russian producers increased domestic LDPE shipments after the September shutdowns for maintenance. Russia's estimated LDPE consumption was about 456,490 tonnes in January-October 2020, down by 1% year on year. Lower production was offset by higher imports.
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