German consumer products group Henkel said it was buying U.S. laundry and home care company The Sun Products Corp from a fund of Vestar Capital Partners in a deal valued at about 3.2 billion euros ($3.5 billion) including debt.
The acquisition, which Henkel will finance with debt, will add well-established brands like laundry detergents All and Sun and fabric conditioner Snuggle to the German company’s portfolio and make it the No. 2 laundry care maker in North America.
“This transaction is a major strategic move for Henkel… With the acquisition of Sun Products we will improve our position in the USA, the world’s largest laundry care market, and Canada,” Henkel Chief Executive Hans Van Bylen said in a statement.
Sun Products has around 2,000 employees and generated annual sales of about 1.4 billion euros in the United States and Canada in fiscal 2015. It has two production sites and one research and development center in the United States.
The deal will raise the proportion of sales Henkel’s laundry and home care division generates in North America to about a third from 13 percent.
By Maria Sheahan
Source: Reuters
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?
