news Ferro acquires Nubiola
Ferro has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Nubiola Pigmentos, the Barcelona- based maker of speciality inorganic pigments for €146 million. The cash- and debt-free acquisition will be funded via a mixture of cash and the company’s existing revolving credit facility. It is expected to be completed by the end of June.
Nubiola, which had sales of
€106 million in 2014 and has been growing at over 4% per annum in recent years, employs about 750 people at its facilities in Spain, Colom- bia, Romania and India, plus a joint venture in China. It is the world’s largest producer of ultramarine blue, which is widely used in the plastics and construction industries because of its durability, colour attributes and whiten- ing capability. Other Nubiola products include speciality iron oxides, chrome oxide greens
Nubiola is the world’s largest producer of ultramarine blue pigments
and corrosion inhibitors. “Nubiola is an excellent
strategic fit with Ferro, as we strengthen our position as a global colour solutions provider,” commented Peter Thomas, chairman, president and CEO of Ferro. “The acquisition will significantly expand our product portfolio and geographic footprint and more than triple the size of our addressable market in inorganic pigments to greater than US$1 billion.”
Thomas added that the two firms have complementary
strengths, in that Ferro’s Complex Inorganic Colour Pigments business mainly focuses on coatings, whereas Nubiola’s key end market is plastics. After selling its Specialty
Plastics and Polymer additives businesses last year, Ferro is now seeking to expand sales in emerging markets, accelerate product development and make acquisitions to boost its market position in glass-based coatings and colours. ❙
www.ferro.com ❙
www.nubiola.com
From bottles to boots
Footwear and apparel giant Timberland has revealed in its Corporate Social Responsibility report for 2014 that it consumed about 567 tonnes of recycled PET, or some 57 million bottles, into its eponymous brand of footwear last year. The company claims to have used over 185 million plastic bottles in this way since 2009. PET is the main recycled
material in Timberland’s footwear and a substantial contributor to the increase in the proportion of these
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incorporating renewable, organic or recycled (ROR) materials from 70% in 2013 to 79% in 2014. The company also increased the use of recycled rubber last year, making 6.9 million pairs of footwear made with outsoles containing up to 42% recycled rubber. As of last November, Timberland is also working with an Indian company, Omni United, to develop tyres that can be recycled into footwear outsoles when they reach the end of their working life. In
COMPOUNDING WORLD | May 2015 Timberland used 567 tonnes of recycled PET in its footwear in 2014
apparel, however, 18.8% of all materials used by weight incorporated ROR content, well down on the 36.7% in 2013. Timberland said that a
renewed strategy has been put in place to increase ROR use in apparel over the next five years. ❙
www.timberland.com
www.compoundingworld.com
Additives for recycled plastics
The Recyclostab, Recyclo- blend, Recyclossorb additive packages referred to in last month’s article on additives for recycled plastics are no longer supplied by BASF (CW, April 2015, page 43). The brands are now owned by PolyAd Services, which was bought out from BASF by Edgewater Capital Partners in March 2014. Recyclostab is used to
improve the process stability and aging resis- tance of polyolefins, while Recycloblend is optimised for recycling automotive polypropylene/EPDM bumpers. Recyclossorb improves weatherability and allows recycled high-densi- ty polyethylene from bottle crates to be used in outdoor applications. ❙
www.polyadservices.com
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