InterviewArkema starts new unit to incorporate US Dow plants

29 January 2010 16:52  [Source: ICIS news]

By: Ivan Lerner

NEW YORK (ICIS news)--French producer Arkema created a new business unit called Arkema Emulsion Systems (AES), which will incorporate plants acquired in the its recent Dow Chemical deal, an executive said on Friday.

Arkema announced on 25 January that it closed on the deal. The company is now in the process of delineating timelines and goals.

“We’re getting underway on integration,” said AES president and managing director Richard Jenkins, in an interview with ICIS.

AES includes Dow’s acrylic latex polymers business (UCAR Emulsion Systems). It will fall under Arkema's existing industrial chemicals business segment, and it will focus on the paints, coatings, adhesives and construction markets.

The acquired acrylic monomers business, with production at the Clear Lake, Texas, site, will be integrated into the existing acrylics business unit – also part of the company’s industrial chemicals business segment.

When Dow agreed to buy Rohm and Haas in 2008, the antitrust guidelines of the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) required that the company divest some of its units. Arkema paid roughly $50m (€36m) for Dow’s acrylic monomers and acrylic latex polymers business.

The deal is a geographic expansion that reinforces Arkema’s strategy, Jenkins said.

Arkema is “a predominantly European company, with the stated objectives to grow in Asia and the US. This expands our footprint considerably in the US”, he said.

The acquisition fulfils another strategic objective to increase Arkema's downstream presence in latex, Jenkins said. The monomers business fits Arkema’s global business “quite well, and fills a hole [the company] had”, he said.

AES has “a couple hundred” employees, and Jenkins said no reductions will be pursued.

“High in our minds is … to make sure there is continuity and a reliable supply and avoiding all possible inconveniences to the customer,” he said.

($1 = €0.72)

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By: Ivan Lerner
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