NEWS
Clariant and Huntsman call off merger plans
Clariant and Huntsman have called off their planned merger following opposi- tion to the proposals from some Clariant shareholders, including White Tale Holdings (which had increased its holding to more than 20%). In a joint statement, Huntsman President and CEO Peter R Huntsman and Clariant CEO Hariolf Kottmann said: “Given the continued accumulation of Clariant shares by activist investor White Tale Holdings and its opposition to the transaction, which is now supported by some other shareholders, we believe that there is simply too much uncertainty as to whether Clariant will be able to secure the two-thirds shareholder approval that is
Clariant CEO Hariolf Kottmann and Hunstman President and CEO Peter R Huntsman pictured when the merger was announced in May
required to approve the transaction under Swiss law. “Under these circum-
stances, and in light of the high level of disruption and uncertainty that has been created for both companies, we have jointly decided to terminate the merger agreement.” Neither party will incur breakage or non-approval
charges as a result of the merger termination. Clariant subsequently said it has opened discus- sions with White Tale representatives on alterna- tive options for the future development of the com- pany. “While White Tale’s position on the merger has been different from ours, we share a common interest in increasing Clariant’s value,” Kottmann said.
Clariant posted a 10%
increase in sales for the first nine months of 2017 to CHF4.7bn. It said the growth was led by North America, Middle East and Africa, where sales were up by 16%. Europe saw 8% growth, while Latin America declined by 1%. ❯
www.clariant.com ❯
www.huntsman.com
Force majeure at BASF
BASF declared force majeure for a facility making two of its com- postable bioplastics, Ecoflex and Ecovio, at its main site in Ludwigshafen, Germany in mid-October. The company said the shutdown was expected to last at least three weeks. Customers have been notified and a hotline has been set up. The move followed the detection of a technical fault in a heating circuit that allowed a small amount of thermal oil to enter the product loop. About 1,500 tonnes of pro- duction was affected. BASF said the contami-
nation did not present a health risk. ❯
www.basf.com
Fraunhofer turns paper waste to polymer FR
Fraunhofer LBF has devel- oped technology to chemical bond phosphor to lignin residue from paper production and has con- ducted tests that show the material can be used as a flame retardant for plastics as part of the EU funded Phoenix project. It was already known that lignin has the ability to reduce the flammability of plastics and that this effect is increased if phosphorus- containing compounds are present. However, it has not been possible to exploit this in plastics to date because
www.compoundingworld.com
weakens their mechanical properties.
Bio-based FR produced by Fraunhofer from lignin paper manufacturing waste
the flame retardant effect was limited due to the spatial separation of the two material components, which
reduced their joint effect. Lignin is also incompatible with most plastics so its inclusion in formulations
Chemically bonding the phosphor to the lignin solves these problems, however, and could make it possible to use the material at an industrial scale, according to Dr Roland Klein, Group Leader for Interfacial Design at Fraunhofer LBF. The project partners believe this could open up a new market for lignin waste, which at present is mainly inciner- ated for energy recovery within the paper industry. ❯
www.lbf.fraunhofer.de
November 2017 | COMPOUNDING WORLD 5
PHOTO: CLARIANT
PHOTO: FRAUNHOFER LBF
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