Ube Industries, Ltd. (Ube; Tokyo, Japan; www.ube-ind.co.jp) announced that its consolidated subsidiary, UBE Corporation Europe S.A.U. (UCE), has decided to acquire Spanish compound manufacturer Repol S.L. and has entered into an agreement for the transfer of shares. Details of the majority share participation are outlined below.
Repol operates a compound business in Europe using nylon 6, nylon 66, polypropylene, polyacetal and other resin raw materials. These products are mainly used for automobiles but are also broadly used in industrial materials and for the electrical and electronics industries.
Under the agreement for the transfer of shares, UCE acquired majority of the shares of Repol at the end of March 2019.
Ube Industries has positioned the nylon 6 business as an active growth business and is currently strengthening the nylon 6 business in the market for extrusion applications, where the company has a competitive edge. At the same time, Ube Industries is expanding the scope of the nylon 6 business in the market for injection applications.
The acquisition establishes a complementary relationship in the nylon 6 business while also giving Ube Industries access to Repol’s compound technologies and product development capabilities for non-nylon resins. Additionally, Repol’s recycling technologies are anticipated to be an asset to future business development amid tightening environmental regulation of plastic packaging materials.
UCE operates an existing compound plant and through the acquisition, Ube Industries gains an additional base of operations in Europe, which is leading the world in the use of plastics for vehicle weight reduction. Ube Industries will also seek to realize synergies with its existing manufacturing operations in Japan and Thailand. This will further accelerate the development of the company’s compound business for injection applications in the automotive sector and other industries, not only in Europe but extending to the Transatlantic region and Asia.
By Mary Page Bailey
Source: Chemical Engineering
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