Afula (Israel) by 10,000 tonnes/y to55,000 tonnes/y. Tosaf’s globalcapacity now exceeds 100,000tonnes/y. As well as the Donetsk andAfula plants, Tosaf has a 20,000tonnes/y plant at Knowsley (UK); a10,000 tonnes/y plant at Obersdorf(Germany); an 8000 tonnes/y plant atTnovot (Turkey); and smaller facilitiesat Beerse (Belgium) and Kfar Yona(Israel).

Tosaf is owned 65% by theMegides family, and 35% by theRavago group. Tosaf’s sales revenueincreased to more than €130 M lastyear, compared against €100 M in2004 and only €30 M in 1995.

The company is keen to increaseits market share in the French market,emphasising its masterbatch productsfor expanded polystyrene (EPS)building panels, plastic products forelectrical applications requiring fire-retardant properties, injection-moulded plastic products forhousehold electrical appliances, andplastic films. The company also plansto add glass-fibre reinforced plasticsto its range.

Plastiques et Caoutchoucs Magazine, Nov 2006,(844), 24 (in French)

COMPANIESBASF integrates Engelhard kaolin &coloured pigment businesses

BASF completed its $5.6 bnacquisition of Engelhard in June 2006and it has moved quickly to integrateEngelhard’s activities with its own.About 800 jobs will be eliminated,mostly in the US, and BASF expectsto realise annual cost savings of €160M by 2010. BASF will take a charge ofabout €100 M in its 2006/07 accountsto cover the costs of integration andrationalisation. BASF Catalysts hasbeen created as a new division, takingover Engelhard’s headquarters atIselin, NJ. Engelhard’s kaolinbusiness is now run by BASFCatalysts. Engelhard’s pearlescentand organic pigments businesseshave been absorbed into BASF’sAppearance & PerformanceTechnologies segment.

Chemical Week, 8 Nov 2006, (Website:http://www.chemweek.com) & ICIS ChemicalBusiness Americas, 13 Nov 2006, (Website:http://www.icbamericas.com)

Cabot cuts carbon black workforce

Cabot will take a charge of $15 M(before tax) in its accounts for fiscal2006/07 to cover the costs ofrestructuring its carbon blackoperations. There will be 130redundancies out of a total corporateworkforce of 4300. Most of the $15 Mwill provide for one-off job terminationbenefits. The redundancies will bespread across sales, manufacturingand technical service departments.Cabot anticipates that the paybackperiod for realisation of savings fromthis workforce reduction will bearound 18 months. Subject tocompletion of the necessary locallegal requirements, implementationwill begin immediately and concludeduring the course of fiscal year 2007.The result of these initiatives will bethe consolidation of certain activitiesand the creation of a morestreamlined organisation.

Cabot is the world’s largest carbonblack producer, with a capacity ofaround 2 M tonnes/y. The cost-cuttinginitiative was prompted by recentincreases in feedstock and fuel costs.

Chemical and Engineering News, 2 Oct 2006, 84 (40),27-28 (Website: http://www.cen-online.org)

Cimbar acquires Dynatec’s barytesbusiness

Cimbar Performance Minerals Inc hasacquired the industrial barytesoperations and assets of Dynatec,notably the Marmora mine andprocessing facilities in Ontario run byCanada Talc. Cimbar will continue tosupply coarse-grade Sparwite barytesproducts from Marmora. However, itwill discontinue making micronisedgrades here. Instead, customers formicronised Sparwite grades will besupplied from one or more ofCimbar’s existing locations –Cartersville and Chatsworth(Georgia), Postosi (Missouri) andHouston (Texas).

Industrial Minerals, Jul 2006, (486), 9

Clariant buys Ciba’s global plasticsmasterbatch assets

Clariant has acquired the globalplastic masterbatches business ofCiba Speciality Chemicals for anundisclosed sum. The acquiredbusiness, which used to be part of

Ciba’s Coatings Effects division,includes plants in France, Malaysiaand Saudi Arabia. It generated salesrevenue of around SFR 1.95 M lastyear and employed 300 people, all ofwhom will be transferred from Ciba toClariant. The deal will be finalisedbefore the end of 2006.

Ciba will now focus on its coreactivities – pigments, paint and plasticadditives, water-treatment and paperchemicals. The divestment is part ofCiba’s rationalisation programme,which is designed to eliminate 2500jobs. Ciba reported a net loss of SFR239 M in 2Q 2006, compared againsta net profit of SFR 79 M in 2Q 2005.

Clariant is one of the world’slargest producers of colourconcentrates and plastic master-batches, with 54 production sitesaround the world. Last year, itsMasterbatch division reported earningsbefore interest, tax, depreciation andamortisation (EBITDA) of SFR 118 Mon sales of SFR 1.15 bn. During 1H2006, the Masterbatch division’s salesrevenue increased by 13% to SFR643 M. Although Clariant is alreadyfamiliar with the issues that can arisewhen running a French or Malaysianoperation, it has not previously hadexperience of running amanufacturing operation in SaudiArabia.

As a separate matter, in earlyOctober 2006, Clariant announcedacross-the-board price increases of 4-6% for all its products and services,the increases to be implementedwithout delay or as soon as contractspermit. This was in response toongoing rises in the costs of rawmaterials, energy and logistics.Clariant estimates that raw materials,including notably acrylates, ethylene,ethylene oxide, polyethylene, TiO2and vinyl acetate, represent 17% of itsglobal expenses.

Plastics News, 4 Oct 2006, (Website:http://www.plasticsnews.com), & Chemical Week, 4Oct 2006, (Website: http://www.chemweek.com), &Handelsblatt Wirtschafts- und Finanzzeitung, 5 Oct2006, (192), 16 (in German), & Neue ZuercherZeitung, 5 Oct 2006, 227 (231), 11 (in German)

Dainichiseika to source crude organicsfrom India & China

Dainichiseika Color & ChemicalsManufacturing (of Tokyo) intends tosubstantially expand its procurementof crude phthalocyanine and other

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classical organic pigments from Indianand Chinese suppliers. Pigments fromthese sources will be refined or furtherprocessed at Dainichiseika’s existingpigment plants in Japan and Europe.This strategy will enable Dainichiseikato reduce its unit production costs atthe same time as meeting customerprice and quality criteria.

Japan Chemical Week, 7 Sep 2006, 47 (2382), 3

Degussa spins off NCN chemicals asAlzchem

Degussa plans to spin off its NCNbusiness as a separate entity, namedAlzchem, which will continue tomanufacture carbon-nitrogen-carbonproducts at Trostberg and Schalden inGermany. NCN chemicals are used inthe manufacture of certain pigments,fertilisers, crop protection chemicalsand pharmaceuticals.

ICIS Chemical Business, 2 Oct 2006, (Website:http://icischemicalbusiness.com)

Eckart appoints Byk as Japanesedistributor

Byk Chemie Japan has beenappointed by Eckart GmbH & Co as adistributor for its entire range ofaluminium pigments. Eckart believesthat it can raise its market share in theJapanese market for aluminiumpigment pastes to 30%. It also wantsto raise its market share in Asiabeyond the current level of about 10%.

Japan Chemical Week, 12 Oct 2006, 47 (2387), 1

European Colour to merge withMagruder?

An acrimonious debate is in progressbetween several of the keyshareholders in European Colour (ofStockport), one of the UK’s leadingmanufacturers of classic organicpigments and dyes, serving the paint,plastics and inks industries. For theyear to end-March 2006, the companydeclared a pre-tax loss of about £1 Mand it continues to face severefinancial difficulties.

Earlier this year, it restructured itsUK activities at a cost of about£250,000 and with the loss of 15-18jobs at Woolwich (South London). Themanufacture of Eljon azo pigmentswas transferred from the company’sWoolwich site to its Stockport

complex in Northwest England. TheWoolwich site now concentrates onthe manufacture of Dyecom dye-complex pigments.

Mr Steven Smith became theChairman of European Colour in 2003,when Shelby Corp – a companyregistered in the Turks & CaicosIslands and controlled by Mr Smith –acquired a 29% shareholding inEuropean Colour. With furtherpurchases, Mr Smith has now built uphis direct and indirect shareholding inEuropean Colour to 58.33%. ShelbyCorp made a £1.2 M unsecured loan toEuropean Colour during the Summer of2006 and Mr Smith claims this was vitalto keep European Colour afloat and tosave the company’s 200 employeesfrom redundancy. European Colouralso has a $2 M secured workingcapital facility with Bank of America. On20 October 2006, both Bank of Americaand Shelby Corp agred to extend theircredit facilities until 30 January 2007.

Mr Smith is also the majorshareholder of Magruder Color, anorganic pigments manufacturer basedin Elizabeth, NJ (in the US). Thanks toPochteca (TCI) Ltd, another companycontrolled by Mr Smith, MagruderColor was rescued from bankruptcytowards the end of 2005. (See ‘Focuson Pigments’, Mar 2006, 4). MagruderColor is now 74% owned by Mr Smithand he believes that the best way torevive European Colour would be totake the company into privateownership and then merge it withMagruder. So, on 12 October 2006,European Colour notified cancellationof its listing on the Official List andannounced that its shares wouldpermanently cease to be traded onthe London Stock Exchange.

The minority shareholders stronglyoppose this move and they argue thatMr Smith’s prime motivation is toconsolidate his personal grip on thecompany. The shareholders involvedinclude: Mr Pehr Gyllenhammar (aSwedish citizen, formerly ManagingDirector of Volvo); Mr MichaelArmitage (former Chief Executive ofEuropean Colour); and Landers SegalCo (Lansco, a US pigments producerin its own right). They are determinedto block attempts to merge EuropeanColour with Magruder and they wantto reverse the delisting.

Meanwhile, it has now beendisclosed that on 11 October 2006Lansco made an offer to purchase

some of European Colour’s assets inNorth America for a cash cosiderationof $3.7 M. At the same time, Lanscooffered to allow its 9.13 M shares inEuropean Colour to be bought-backby the company for a nominalamount. The independent directors ofEuropean Colour, together with theiradvisers, made a provisionalassessment of Lansco’s offer andthey concluded that it would notresolve the company’s immediatesevere financial difficulties and wouldbe unlikely to lead to an improvementin shareholder value. They tookaccount of the net liabilities of $2.2 Mthat would have been left with ECPigments USA under the terms of theLansco offer, thereby leaving a netcash consideration of $1.5 M beforetransaction costs. They also tookaccount of the practical timingconsiderations associated with theLansco offer and the fact that the offerwas going to be subject to a relativelyprotracted due diligence investigation.

The Independent, 23 Oct 2006, (Website:http://www.independent.co.uk) & Press Releasesfrom: European Colour plc, Hempshaw Lane,Stockport SK1 4LG, UK (27 Oct 2006)

Ferro sale of Specialty Plastics toWind Point Partners collapses

Ferro Corp will not sell its SpecialityPlastics business unit to Wind PointPartners after all. A deal worth $133M, which had been announced inAugust, seems to have collapsed.Wind Point Partners (of Chicago) is aprivate equity firm and it planned torun the acquired business under thesupervision of its wholly-ownedsubsidiary, Olympia Plastics (ofSouthfield, MI). (See also ‘Focus onPigments’, Oct 2006, 7).

Plastics News, 13 Oct 2006 & 20 Nov 2006, (Website:http://www.plasticsnews.com)

Franklin Industrial Minerals on theblock

Franklin Industries Inc has declaredits intention to sell the entire businessand assets of its wholly-ownedsubsidiary, Franklin Industrial MineralsInc (FIM, of Nashville, TN). Harris,Williams & Co – a specialist adviserand broker for mergers andacquisitions – is assessing bids frompotentially interested candidates. FIMhas nine mineral mining and

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