GLG News by Council Members Knowledgeable about Oleochemicals

The coatings industry is experiencing slow growth paralleling GDP rates. This largely mature industry, $72 billion worldwide, has substancial growth potential.Chemark has determined that there is “a space above maturity and below saturation, where growth potential exists beyond simple replacement and...

·Consumers in Western Europe are shying away from DIY (do-it-yourself) in favor of DFM (do-it-for-me) home improvement projects. The trend to BIY (buy-it-yourself), and then hire a professional to do a project, is on the rise.

·Reichold has been a reliable supplier to the coatings industry since 1927. ·From 1987-2005 Reichold was a subsidiary of Dinippon Ink and Chemical (DIC). In 2005 there was a management buyout; the new management/ownership team has a great deal of experience in their primary markets (coatings...

Global market outlook from the Asia Petroleum Industry Conference (APIC), in Taiwan, is that overcapacity is looming on the horizon due to the build-up of capacity in the Mideast. ·An increasingly self-sufficient China will also affect the market. ·Industry challenges include: required CO2...

·M and A activity has been going on at a rapid pace this year; recent rumors have focused on potentially huge deals. Cash rich private equity firms and chemical companies with high stock prices (and good balance sheets) are fueling these rumors. ·Early this year rumors abounded that Dow was...

·Ceres and Rohm and Haas are collaborating in an effort directed toward producing plant-based materials that can be used to replace petroleum-based materials. ·The 3 year project is funded by a $1.5 million research grant from the USDA to determine if cellulosic plants (grown for ethanol production)...

“Green Chemistry” is the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances.Green technology has to compete economically with conventional processes or have attributes that customers are willing to pay for.

For the past 6 years private equity firms have been major players in the European chemical distribution market.This market is attractive because of limited financial risks, cash flow, and steady growth; more manufacturers are outsourcing chemical distribution.

·The EU’s REACH (registration, evaluation, and authorization of chemicals) will be phased-in beginning in June 2007. ·About 30,000 chemicals or substances must be registered with their safety data under the REACH protocol. Five to ten percent of these will have to be evaluated and may need...

Chemtura Corporation (the company resulting from the merger of Crompton and Great Lakes Chemical) has announced it is implementing an “industry-based business model”.This model will “simplify its financial reporting structure by merging six business units into four.The hope is that this commitment to...