Clariant and SABIC announce speciality chemicals JV

Clariant and its major shareholder, SABIC, have announced they are to collaborate on the creation of a new speciality chemicals joint venture in high performance materials.

The move would combine Clariant’s existing additives and high value masterbatch division with parts of SABIC’s specialities business - comprising its ULTEM and NORYL resins, and its families of LNP compounds and copolymers -to form the new ‘High Performance Materials’ platform.

Clariant will have the majority stake in the intended business combination. Once it is established, Clariant’s remaining Plastics and Coatings business (for pigments, standard masterbatches and medical specialities) will be divested.

The companies hope the new division will generate annual sales of CHF 9 billion (approx.. GBP £7.1 billion).

“The portfolio upgrade together with the continuation of Clariant’s strategy enables the Group to realise a significant step change into higher value specialities, which will allow the Group to considerably augment value creation for all our stakeholders,” said Hariolf Kottmann, CEO of Clariant.

This new business area, say the two companies, will offer a “customer-specific, application know-how driven and competitively advantaged product range” of high-performance thermoplastics for demanding thermo-electro-optical and mechanical environments, speciality additives and masterbatches in tandem with a global compounding platform.

Major applications, they say, include smart electronics, health care, aerospace, automotive, robotics, additive manufacturing, renewable energy, and e-mobility.

Yousef Al-Benyan, SABIC Vice Chairman and CEO, said: “For many years, SABIC and Clariant have created value for our respective shareholders from our close commercial ties.

“We will now seek to further develop this strategic relationship at the highest levels of both companies to create a leading provider of tailored speciality materials and technologies for the benefit of both companies’ stakeholders and the advancement of the specialties industry.”

SABIC’s Executive Vice President for Specialities, Ernesto Occhiello, will become Clariant’s new Chief Executive and Clariant’s current Chief Executive, Kottmann, is proposed as the new Chairman of the Board.