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ROHM AND HAAS AND STOCKHAUSEN FORM JOINT VENTURE TO MANUFACTURE ACRYLIC ACID MANOMER
Financial details of the venture were not disclosed. The companies will apply for all appropriate regulatory approvals. Acrylic acid is an essential building block material for products made by both companies. Rohm and Haas uses acrylic acid and its derivatives to make a full range of acrylic materials used in paints, coatings, adhesives, and plastics, among other things. Stockhausen uses glacial acrylic acid as a key component in the manufacture of superabsorbent materials used in baby diapers and personal care products. Rohm and Haas Chairman and Chief Executive Officer J. Lawrence Wilson said the venture with Stockhausen will "give us an excellent source of acrylic acid in Europe and strengthen our global monomer supply network so that we can support the growth of our $2.4 billion acrylic product portfolio." Wilson also said that he is pleased to see Rohm and Haas take a stronger position in the merchant monomer market. "We feel confident that our reputation as an efficient, cost-effective supplier of acrylic monomers can only be enhanced by an increased position in Europe." Uwe-Ernst Bufe, President and Chief Executive Officer of Stockhausen's parent company Degussa-Hüls AG, said, "Forming a joint venture with the largest U.S. acrylic acid producer will improve the security of supply of that key raw material for superabsorbent polymers which is Stockhausen's largest business. Rohm and Haas has been our primary supplier in the United States for several years," he continued. "We are happy that our excellent business relationship has led to this cooperation, including the decision by Rohm and Haas to build at the Chemical Industry Park Marl, which we believe is well-positioned for such investment. This is a major success for our ChemSite initiative." Under the planned venture, Rohm and Haas will contribute 165,000 metric tons of its Deer Park, Texas acrylic acid manufacturing capacity. Stockhausen will contribute 90,000 metric tons of existing acrylic acid capacity in Marl, Germany, where an additional 75,000 metric tons of capacity, presently under construction, will come on-stream before the end of 2000. The two companies intend to take full advantage of the ChemSite initiative and the Chemical Industry Park Marl. Together, they plan to add more than 100,000 metric tons of new acrylic acid capacity at Marl before the end of 2003. In addition, Rohm and Haas will build a world-scale butyl acrylate plant there so that it can make acrylic acid esters for its European network of acrylic polymer plants, as well as for its supply to the merchant market. The companies will work together to increase acrylic acid capacity in the rest of the world. Discussions under way include consideration of a site in Brazil.
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