MOSCOW (MRC) -- With the planned acquisition of Agiplast, a leader in the regeneration of high performance polymers, in particular specialty polyamides and fluoropolymers, Arkema will be able to offer a full service to customers in terms of materials circularity, addressing growing market expectations in this field, as per the company's press release.
This project, which contributes to the sustainable development of the polymer industry, is perfectly in line with Arkema’s sustainable growth strategy.
Arkema plans to acquire Agiplast, a company specialized in the regeneration of high performance polymers and its historical partner in recycling operations.
The company, with annual sales of around EUR15 million, operates a plant in Italy and has 32 employees.
Agiplast’s strong know-how in mechanical recycling technologies will enable Arkema to offer high quality recycled polymers to its customers.
In October 2019, Arkema, the world leader in bio-based high performance polymers, had already launched Virtucycle, an ambitious program with Agiplast aimed at developing loops for the collection and regeneration of high performance polymers while minimizing CO2 emissions.
With this acquisition, Arkema will be the first fully integrated high performance polymer manufacturer offering both bio-based and recycled materials in order to address the challenges of resource scarcity and end-of-life products. This bolt-on acquisition is thus in line with Arkema’s CSR and sustainable growth strategy, and in particular the transition to a circular economy.
The deal is expected to close in June 2021.
As MRC reported earlier, Arkema is further increasing its fluoropolymer production capacities in Changshu, China, by 35% in 2022. The increase in capacity is scheduled to come on stream before the end of 2022. Financial and overall capacity details of the expansion project were not disclosed.
We remind that Russia's output of chemical products rose in March 2021 by 5.4% year on year. Thus, production of basic chemicals increased year on year by 6.7% in the first moths months of 2021. March production of polymers in primary form was 958,000 tonnes versus 861,000 tonnes in February. Overall output of polymers in primary form totalled 2,740,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 8.5% year on year.
MRC