Arkema launches as spin-off looms
20 Oct 2004
The chemicals operations of Total has set the ball rolling on its two-year path to spin-off by relaunching under a new name.
Formerly known as Atofina from its origins with the Elf Atochem and Fina groups, it will now trade under the name Arkema.
The company has a E5billion turnover, and is active in three business segments - performance products, including technical polymers, speciality chemicals, organic peroxides, urea formaldehyde resins and agrochemicals; industrial chemicals, including acrylics, PMMA, thiochemicals, fluorochemicals and hydrogen peroxide; and vinyl products, including chlorochemicals and PVC, vinyl compounds, and vinyl pipes and profiles.
It has 19 300 employees in 40 countries, and operates 90 manufacturing plants of varying sizes in North America, Europe and Asia. The former head of Atofina's agrochemicals, thiochemicals and fertilisers business, Thierry Le Hénaff, has been named president and ceo of the new company.
The new name represents a break away from Arkema's parent companies, but the 'Kem' element of the name still reflects its chemicals operations. 'We didn't want to have an abstract name which hides us behind something which has no connection with our business,' comments Bernard Boyer, board member in charge of overall strategy.
As with many chemical companies, Arkema is looking eastward for expansion - Boyer says that it plans to double its turnover from the region 'within a reasonable time, probably by the end of the decade.' It currently has ten plants in Asia, of which five are in China; but Boyer says that exploiting the fast-growing Asian markets will require new plants. 'We must export high added-value products to the region, and build up our local manufacturing base,' he says.
The company already has an organic peroxides plant under construction in China, and Boyer says that capacity for other products, including PMMA, H2O2, fluorochemicals, acrylics and thiochemicals may follow. However, problems with supply of raw materials, particularly propylene, have to be overcome.
