Ink and adhesives

Hexion Specialty Chemicals, the thermoset resin producer, has made an offer to purchase the global ink and adhesive resins business of Akzo Nobel for €88 million.

The business produces resins used to manufacture inks for commercial printing and packaging, digital inks for laser and photocopier printing, and pressure sensitive adhesives used in tape and labeling applications. Its resins also are used in synthetic rubber, pigments, flooring, roadmarkings, diapers and other products.

Its resin technologies include hard resins, alkyd resins, polyester resins, acrylic resins, resin solutions and vehicles, tackifier dispersions, and rosin esters. The business generated 2004 sales of approximately €166 million, about half in Europe and the rest in North and South America and the Asia-Pacific regions. It has 10 manufacturing facilities and 560 employees.

The manufacturing facilities that will be acquired are located in Maastricht, The Netherlands; Santo Varão, Portugal; Toronto, Canada; Concordia, Argentina; Mt. Maunganui, New Zealand; Fengkai, and Suzhou, China; Gunsan, Korea; and in the US, Baxley, Georgia and Matteson, Illinois.