AkzoNobel, the leading global producer of paints and coatings, said on Thursday it is in discussions with BASF to acquire BASF’s industrial coatings business.
“The strategy of AkzoNobel of driving operational excellence and organic growth includes the possibility to pursue value generating, bolt-on acquisitions,” the company said. No further information will be made available at this stage. AkzoNobel’s industrial coatings business had sales of around €780 million ($884 million), or 14% of the company’s performance coatings sales of €5.59 billion in 2014.
BASF confirmed that it is in discussions with AkzoNobel on the potential sale, but also declined to give further information. BASF is relatively small in industrial coatings. Its main coatings sectors are automotive and consumer. Industrial coatings are lumped under others, which in 2014 had sales of about €240 million, or 8% of coatings sales of €2.98 billion. BASF says its main competitors in industrial coatings are AkzoNobel and PPG.
BASF’s industrial coatings are produced at Münster and Oldenburg, Germany. The company offers systems for coating industrial products such as Coiltec, a universal non-chromate coil coating primer and foil coatings, applied to paper and plastic substrates. For the final finish of manufactured products, BASF’s industrial coatings portfolio comprises e-coats, spray and dip coatings, which are used for industrial buildings, radiator components, household appliances and wind turbines.
By Natasha Alperowicz
Source: Chemical Week
France has launched an offshore green hydrogen production platform at the country’s Port of Saint-Nazaire this week, along with its first offshore wind farm. The hydrogen plant, which its operators say is the world’s first facility of its type, coincides with the launch of another “first of its kind” facility in Sweden dedicated to storing hydrogen in an underground lined rock cavern (LRC).
The project sets up the Hydrogen Valley in Rome, the first industrial-scale technological hub for the development of the national supply chain for the production, transport, storage and use of hydrogen for the decarbonization of industrial processes and for sustainable mobility.
At first glance, hydrogen seems to be the perfect solution to our energy needs. It doesn’t produce any carbon dioxide when used. It can store energy for long periods of time. It doesn’t leave behind hazardous waste materials, like nuclear does. And it doesn’t require large swathes of land to be flooded, like hydroelectricity. Seems too good to be true. So…what’s the catch?
