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[Oct 2005]
Acquisition in Clay Additives Field
Rockwood Holdings Inc (Princeton, NJ, USA) has reached an agreement to acquire the rheological additives and carbonless developers businesses of Sud-Chemie AG (Munich, Germany). Sales generated by these businesses are approximately US$50 million on an annual basis. The transaction is subject to approval by the European Union antitrust authorities. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. The purchase price will be financed by cash flow from operations.
Seifi Ghasemi, Rockwood's Chairman and CEO, said: "We are very excited about the future of our global Clay Additives business, which is part of our Performance Additives segment. This acquisition strengthens our market position by providing us with additional customized products and solutions that will enable us to compete more effectively".
The Sud-Chemie rheological additives business produces materials used in the coatings, ink and personal care industries to improve the flow properties of finished products. Rockwood will acquire the technology to Sud-Chemie's Tixogel(R) organoclays, Optiflo(R) associative thickeners and Optigel(R) activated clays and production facilities in Moosburg, Germany and Louisville, KY, USA.
Rockwood will also acquire Sud-Chemie's Copisil(R) clay product line which is used in the manufacture of carbonless paper. Rockwood expects to transfer production for the Copisil line to its manufacturing facility in Widnes, Cheshire, England.
www.rocksp.com
ENDS