EU approves Omya's acquisition of Huber's PCC business, subject to divestment of Kuusankoski
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 2006
- Weight
- 54 KB
- Volume
- 2006
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0969-6210
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✦ Synopsis
which disrupted feedstock supplies to the plants that Texas Petrochemicals recently acquired.
Mr Peter Huntsman (CEO of Huntsman Corp) said: "We will sell or spin-off our commodity businessesolefins, aromatics, polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene. This will leave us focused on Materials & Effects, Polyurethanes, Performance Products and Pigments (Tioxide's TiO 2 business)."
Ever since it purchased the Tioxide business in mid-1999, Huntsman Corp has referred to it as a "commodity business" in the same bracket as the olefins, aromatics and polymer businesses that are now poised for divestment. But Mr Huntsman confirmed: "Tioxide will not be sold. A lack of volatility (in TiO 2 demand, prices and earnings) means that it is not a pure commodity business."
The Textile Effects business acquired from Ciba currently operates 11 primary manufacturing facilities in China, France, Germany, Indonesia, Mexico, Switzerland, Thailand and the US. For full-year 2005, it generated SFR 1.28 bn in sales revenues, of which textile colorants accounted for about 50%. Mr Huntsman commented: "Of the dyes/colorants share of this business, there are some very lucrative pieces that serve North America and Europe, and which will continue to be manufactured in those areas. But the large chunk of the dyes business and the commodities side of that business has to move to Asia longer term. Moving dyes production to Asia is a tremendous opportunity."