Dear Member,

Hello and welcome to your late week international coatings industry update, brought to you by SpecialChem. It has been busy and we have a lot of area to cover, so let's get started.

In business news, Elementis Plc agreed to acquire Watercryl Quimica Ltda. of Brazil for USD 24 mn to expand in the Latin American market for coatings additives. Watercryl generated sales of USD 9.3 mn and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of USD 2.3 mn in the year through May, and the deal is expected to close in the second half, the London-based company said in a release this week. Elementis will combine Watercryl with its existing Specialty Products offering to accelerate growth in Latin America. The company is seeking out other investment opportunities to pursue expansion in high-growth markets, Chief Executive Officer David Dutro said...more

As opposed to what happened with DuPont last year, here is a TiO₂ deal that seems to be progressing properly. PPG Industries announced this week that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Henan-Billions Chemicals Co., Ltd. by which PPG will license some chloride-based technologies to Hennan-Billions for use at its titanium dioxide refinement facilities in China. In addition, PPG has signed a long-term purchase agreement for titanium dioxide with them. Commercial terms of the agreements and license proceeds from Hennan-Billions to PPG were not disclosed. PPG intends to use the chloride-based TiO₂ manufactured by Hennan-Billions for various end-use applications, including paints and other coatings. The TiO₂ also would be available for sale to third parties. "This agreement with Hennan-Billions provides further evidence of PPG's commitment to utilize our existing expertise to expand and secure additional global supply of titanium dioxide," said Charles F. Kahle II, PPG Chief Technology Officer and VP, Coatings R & D...more

In other business news, DSM announced that it has successfully completed the acquisition of Kensey Nash, through the merger of its subsidiary Biomedical Acquisition Corporation with and into Kensey Nash. As a result of the merger, Kensey Nash is now an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of DSM. The acquisition, announced in May of 2012, will strengthen DSM's biomedical business, one of the three Emerging Business Areas of DSM. The acquisition had a total enterprise value of approximately USD 360 mn. Feike Sijbesma, CEO and Chairman of the DSM managing board said: "This acquisition fully fits with our strategy "DSM in Motion: driving focused growth." Biomedical is one of the key areas where we are able to fully leverage our unique science-based expertise in Life Sciences and Materials Sciences...more

Where we continue, we look at coatings research leading to the forensic tagging of shell casings and some news from EcoSmart in Florida, USA. We have additional news in nanocoatings from Spain, and the resolution of a suit may have put another nail in the coffin of the paint industry in California. To continue with us, please follow this handy link...more

In other news on the site, MesoCoat won an R&D magazine award for their PcomP product and Diatec acquired Star Coating to enhance their graphic arts offerings. Henkel inaugurated their coating competence center in Garching, Germany and Sanford Process' Micralox product passed a rigorous saltwater exposure test. To go directly to these and numerous other news items, please follow this link...click here

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