NEWS
IN BRIEF
Altana invests in FR firm Along with sustainability investor UB Forest Industry Green Growth Fund , Altana is investing an unspecified amount in Nordtreat , a Finnish firm that makes flame retardants from biobased raw materials . Altana ’ s BYK division will also develop biobased flame retardant additives with Nordtreat , whose Norflam range has already been used in over 2,000 buildings and structures since 2015 .
Two work on PFAS Under a new North American partnership , Australia ’ s Synergen Met will offer its foam fractionation and thermal plasma technologies that capture , concentrate and destroy PFAS without creating harmful byproducts . Yokogawa Corporation will provide sensor , control and remote access technology for autonomous operations , plus local manufacturing , support and services .
SynChem boosts Formosa Formosa Laboratories , a Taiwanbased API supplier and CDMO , has completed the acquisition of SynChem , a contract research laboratory located in suburban Chicago . SynChem will now operate as SynChem-Formosa , with Dr W . Paul Mar continuing as CEO . Dr Cheng , chairman and president of Formosa , particularly noted SynChem ’ s track record in ADC payloads and linkers .
Mitra , Sun in battery deal Mitra Chem , a specialist in lithiumion battery materials , has formed a joint project with inks and pigments giant Sun Chemical to develop the first iron phosphate mass production capability in North America . This will be co-located with Mitra Chem ' s lithium iron phosphate ( LFP ) production . Currently , all batterygrade LFP is sourced outside the US , with 99 % coming from China .
DuPont plans split
DuPont has announced a plan to separate into three separate , publicly traded companies over the course of the next 18-24 months , subject to the satisfaction of customary conditions , including final board approval regulatory approvals and satisfactory completion of financing . Outgoing CEO and executive chairman Ed Breen described this as “ an extraordinary opportunity to deliver long-term , sustainable shareholder value ”.
The ‘ New DuPont ’ will be a diversified industrial company with sales of about $ 6.6 billion and operating EBITDA margin of about 24 % in 2023 . It will comprise : the existing Water & Protection segment businesses , other than Water Solutions ; most of those within Industrial Solutions ; and the retained businesses reported in Corporate .
About half of sales will be in construction , with others including mobility , such as electric vehicle batteries and structural adhesives , and healthcare , mainly biopharma and medical devices . “ New DuPont is expected to continue to deliver strong margins , generate robust cash flow and will have a balanced financial policy similar to the current DuPont , including the ability to invest in growth opportunities ,” the company stated .
‘ Electronics ’ will take the existing Semiconductor Technologies and Interconnect Solutions lines of business , plus the electronics-related product lines from Industrial Solutions . These businesses had net sales of about $ 4 billion and an operating EBITDA margin of approximately 29 % in 2023 . Its focus will be on “ innovation-based growth ” in AI chips , digital displays , printed circuit boards and consumer electronics .
Finally , ‘ Water ’ will house the Water Solutions line , with net sales of around $ 1.5 billion and operating EBITDA margin of about 24 % in 2023 . It will supply reverse osmosis , ion exchange and ultrafiltration products for industrial and municipal water treatment , life sciences and emerging technologies like direct lithium extraction .
The company said that the business “ will be well positioned to drive earnings growth through continued investment in the business as well as potential inorganic growth opportunities ”. According to a subsequent report in Bloomberg , there is already interest from potential industry buyers , including Xylem and Veralto .
“ Critically , each company will have greater flexibility to pursue their own focused growth strategies , including portfolio enhancing M & A ,” added Breen , who has now been succeeded as CEO by Lori Koch , but remains executive chairman . Antonella Franzen , hitherto CFO of Water & Protection , segment has become CFO in Koch ’ s place .
The existing DuPont is the result of a merger with Dow Chemical in 2019 , followed by a three-way split into Dow , DuPont and Corteva . Having been the largest chemical company in the world in the 1990s , last year it placed 39 in Billion-Dollar Club , Chemical Week ’ s ranking of chemical companies by publicly disclosed revenues , having also made some divestments since then .
8 SPECIALITY CHEMICALS MAGAZINE ESTABLISHED 1981