BASF said today that it will concentrate production of paper coating dispersions in Europe at two sites, Ludwigshafen, Germany; Hamina, Finland and sell its Austrian production site.
BASF has signed a contract with Synthomer Austria, a subsidiary of Synthomer plc (Harlow, UK), to sell its production site for styrene butadiene (SB) dispersions for paper coating at Pischelsdorf, Austria, for €30 million ($35.2 million). Some 42 employees will transfer with the sale. The transaction requires authorization by the relevant merger control authorities and is expected to be completed by late January 2018.
BASF says the restructuring will strengthen its ability to compete in the market of paper coating dispersions in the long term. The company will in the future supply SB dispersions customers in Europe from its existing operations at Ludwigshafen and Hamina. BASF’s other paper dispersion production sites in the EMEA region are not affected. The company also makes the products at Gebze, Turkey and Durban, South Africa. Styrene acrylic dispersions currently produced at Pischelsdorf are not included in the sale. Their production will also be concentrated at Ludwigshafen.
“This decision helps us improve our competitiveness and creates the conditions necessary to offer products and services to our customers at attractive terms in the future. We will continue to supply our Austrian paper customers with the usual range of styrene butadiene and styrene acrylic dispersions combined with technical on-site services and optimized logistics,” says Thomas Schiele, vice president/paper coating chemicals Europe at BASF.
Paper dispersions are applied to paper together with other additives and pigments to improve the print quality of graphic paper as well as packaging paper and cardboard.
By Natasha Alperowicz
Source: Chemical Week
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