Dec 2 2010
Sud-Chemie AG, Munich, and Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH) with headquarters in Covington, Kentucky (USA), today completed the combination of their worldwide activities in the foundry chemical sector, thus expanding the partners' long-term existing alliance in Europe.
The expanded joint venture – based in Hilden, Germany – will operate with the name ASK Chemicals GmbH. Following approval by the regulatory authorities and compliance with all other closing conditions, the joint venture agreements signed by the partners in July 2010 have now taken effect. Ashland and Sud-Chemie each hold a fifty-percent share in ASK Chemicals GmbH, while operations management leadership lies with Sud-Chemie.
The joint venture creates a world-leading supplier of additives and supplies for the foundry industry, including relevant services in the field of application technology. ASK Chemicals, with approximately 1,300 regular employees in the Americas, Asia and Europe, will offer its worldwide customers premium all-in-one solutions for the increasing technological requirements of modern foundries.
ASK Chemicals GmbH comprises Ashland-Sudchemie-Kernfest GmbH, Hilden, a 50-50 joint venture formed by both partners in 1970 and previously operating solely in Europe, as well as all other assets and employees belonging to Sud-Chemie's business unit for Foundry Products and Specialty Resins, and Ashland´s Casting Solutions business unit.
Dr. Hans Jurgen Wernicke, managing board vice chairman of Sud-Chemie AG, and Ted Harris, president of Ashland Performance Materials, under which the Casting Solutions business unit previously operated, are focused on the newly expanded joint venture realizing growth potential as a result of combining the foundry know-how offered by both partners, widening the product range and making use of existing distribution channels and market synergies in the Americas, Asia and Europe – notably in the fast-growing foundry markets of Latin America, Northeast Asia and Eastern Europe.
Source: http://www.ashland.com/