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Brussels, November 22, 2013 ---Solvay announces it has agreed to acquire the specialty chemical assets of ERCA Química, Ltda. in Brazil. This will allow the Group to more than double its production capacity in surfactants in Brazil and to serve customers in the agrochemicals, home & personal care, coatings, mining and oil & gas markets.
The investment will give Solvay’s Novecare business unit greater access to one of the world’s largest personal care and agrochemicals markets and which are growing at a double-digit pace. In addition, it strengthens its commercial network, closeness to customers and innovation pipeline.
The transaction includes ERCA’s local specialty chemical assets and its portfolio of agrochemicals and home & personal care products. Located at Itatiba city in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, these new industrial assets will give Solvay the scalability to expand further to meet growing demand. Novecare will deploy its leading position in several technology platforms, especially in developing and providing quats, which are the building blocks for an array of Novecare specialty chemicals and surfactants. In addition, Solvay will enter into a partnership with ERCA to manufacture their products for their construction and textile market segments.
“The acquisition of these specialty chemical assets represents an important step for Novecare to grow in Brazil’s dynamic market, expand our technology and product portfolio, increase production capacity and provide global innovations to meet the immediate demand of our customers. With a competitive industrial footprint, we are able to help our customers capture business opportunities and develop new products and solutions to meet their growth ambitions,” said Emmanuel Butstraen, President of Solvay Novecare.
The completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including Brazilian anti-trust clearance.
As an international chemical group, SOLVAY assists industries in finding and implementing ever more responsible and value-creating solutions. The Group is firmly committed to sustainable development and focused on innovation and operational excellence. Solvay serves diversified markets, generating 90% of its turnover in activities where it is one of the top three worldwide. The group is headquartered in Brussels, employs about 29,000 people in 55 countries and generated 12.4 billion euros in net sales in 2012. Solvay SA is listed as SOLB.BE on NYSE Euronext in Brussels and Paris (Bloomberg: SOLB:BB - Reuters: SOLB.BR).
Solvay Novecare is a worldwide leader in specialty surfactants and a major player in polymers, amines, guar, and phosphorus derivatives. Solvay Novecare engineers and develops formulations that provide consumer products and state-of-the-art industrial applications with specific functional qualities designed to modify fluid behavior and deliver cleansing, dispersal, gelling, moisturizing, penetrating, softening or texturizing properties. These formulations are used in shampoos, detergents, paints and lubricants as well as in crop protection, mining and energy production and stimulation. Novecare, which boasts a worldwide network of 25 manufacturing sites and seven R&D centers, has become the preferred partner of its customers in rapidly growing economies and leverages an innovation platform based on sustainable solutions.
