COMPANY NEWS

11 December 2000 00:00  [Source: ICB Americas]

Ecolab Buys Remaining Stake

Ecolab Inc. has agreed to acquire the remaining 50 percent of the joint-venture between Henkel KgaA and Ecolab, Henkel-Ecolab. Ecolab will pay Henkel, in either cash or Ecolab stock, roughly 11 times Henkel's 50 percent share of the joint venture's average operating income before interest and taxes for the years 2000 and 2001, or about $460 to $490 million.

"This is an important step in our future growth plans. This transaction bolsters our global leadership and will enhance our company's ability to more rapidly and effectively grow our existing products and services in this market and elsewhere," says Allan L. Shuman, Ecolab's chairman, president and CEO.

The transaction is set to close January 2, 2002. Henkel-Ecolab was established in 1991 to provide premium cleaning and sanitizing products in Europe as part of Ecolab's global service coverage.

Cabot Micro Doubles Capacity

Cabot Microelectronics Corporation will expand the manufacturing capacity of its plant in Oazo-Kitakoyama Industrial Park, Geino, Japan, by 100 percent. The new 73,000-square-foot addition is the second such expansion of the facility since it opened in January 1999 in response to growing demand in Asia-Pacific. The company expanded the manufacturing capacity of the Geino facility by 150 percent just a year ago. Final completion of this latest expansion is scheduled for next July.

The Geino expansion will be in two phases. The first, to be completed this month, is expected to boost manufacturing capacity by 33 percent. At the completion of phase two, the entire expansion effort will increase manufacturing capacity by 100 percent. The plant features manufacturing technology used at the company's US operations in Aurora, Ill.

Degussa-Hüls Builds New Plant

Degussa-Hüls AG is constructing a new industrial carbon black plant in Paulinia near Sïo Paulo in Brazil. The plant will have a capacity of about 60,000 metric tons of rubber carbon black per year in the first phase of development. It will start production at the beginning of 2002.

In the first quarter, Degussa-Hüls bought the rubber carbon black plant and attached power station of Nafta Polska and Rafineria Jaslo in Eastern Europe for roughly DM13.5 million ($5.8 million). With the new plant in Brazil, the company is one of the biggest industrial carbon black manufacturers in the world. It has 15 productions sites and a capacity of about 1.2 million metric tons per year.

Wellman to Idle Plant

Moving to provide analysts and investors with guidance for 2001, Wellman Inc. expects to sell about 2 billion pounds of polyester products in 2001. The breakout will be roughly 1 billion pounds of polyester fibers and 1 billion pounds of PET resin.

The company expects its domestic sales of polyester staple in 2001 to be less than its total US staple fiber capacity. As a result, Wellman will idle its staple fiber production assets in Pearl River, S.C., by the end of the year and consolidate chemical-based staple fiber production at its Palmetto, S.C., facility. The move will result in an expense of $2 million in its fourth quarter 2000 results.

"Continuing Far East imports of textiles and apparel has reduced demand for fiber on the part of the US textile industry," says Tom Duff, chairman and CEO of Wellman.

Finnish Chem Buys Huron Tech

Finnish Chemicals Oy, Aetsa, Finland, is buying 100 percent of Jacksonville, Fla.-based Huron Tech Corporation. Both companies are key producers of chemicals for the pulp and paper industry in Europe and North America. Huron Tech manufactures sodium chlorate at facilities in Augusta, Ga., and Eastover, S.C. Equipment fabrication, research and development, and administration are based in Delco, N.C.; Jacksonville, Fla.; and Kingston, Ont., Canada.

The pulp and paper chemicals business will operate under the Finnchem umbrella. Finnish Chemicals fine chemicals unit, Delicato Chemical, will continue to operate as a separate entity.

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