Ferro To Exit Specialty Plastics And Polymer Additives Businesses

It was just a year ago that A.Schulman made an unsuccessful bid to acquire all of Ferro Corp., but the acquisition of the latter’s specialty plastics business by A. Schulman will be a done deal by early third quarter. Moreover, Ferro has hired KeyBanc Capital Markets to help find a buyer for its polymer additives business.

 

Ferro chairman, president and CEO Peter Thomas says, the company will aim to strengthen its performance materials product lines which include performance coatings, performance colors and glass, and pigments, powders and oxides. The latter group includes complex inorganic color pigments for plastics. “Our strategic vision is to become the premier global functional coatings and color solutions company, building on our core competencies in glass and color technologies.”

 

What A. Schulman is gaining is an expanded product portfolio, technical solutions, and global resources. Included are custom engineered compounds, colorants and liquid coatings that are used in such markets as packaging, construction, and transportation. They are made in four U.S. plants and one in Spain. Not included in the sale are Ferro’s liquid colorants and dispersions business in Edison, N.J., and its specialty plastics operations in Venezuala. This acquisition will be the tenth made by A. Schulman within the last four years, along with three joint ventures formed. The company is aiming to strengthen its U.S. operations and expand its global reach in engineered plastics, masterbatches and custom performance colorants.

 

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