DSM reshapes plastics units
15 Jan 2000
DSM has reached an agreement to sell its acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) business to BASF for an undisclosed sum. The deal will consolidate the German behemoth's leading position among the world's ABS players.
The ABS business is currently part of DSM's performance polymers division. The operation includes polymerisation and compounding plants in Geleen, the Netherlands, with a total capacity of some 60000tpa, and generates sales of some E220million per year. The plants will remain the property of DSM, and the company will employ most of the 250 staff.
The deal will allow DSM to focus on its core product, polypropylene, where it holds a leading position. From BASF's point of view, meanwhile, the acquisition boosts its ABS capacity to 400,000tpa. This is set to increase even further with the opening of a 130,000tpa plant in Altamira, Mexico, which will make BASF the only ABS producer capable of manufacturing the same grades of the polymer in Europe, Asia, and the NAFTA region.
DSM is also trimming its engineering plastics division, selling its transparent polycarbonate sheeting business to Bayer. The business has two operating units, based in Tielt, Belgium, and Sheffield, Massachusetts; employs some 300 people; and has annual sales around e140million.
DSM decided to sell because it does not produce the raw materials needed to make polycarbonate, so expanding production further would require a large investment. Bayer, by contrast, is a leading producer of polycarbonate, with annual capacity of 1.1billion pounds.
