AkzoNobel’s Specialty Chemicals business has completed the expansion of its Polymer Chemistry production complex in Los Reyes, Mexico. The investment widens the Dutch group’s North American peroxyester capacity by 40% to meet demand from the plastics industry.

Peroxyesters, also known as peresters, are used mainly to produce standard thermoplastics such as PVC, LDPE, acrylics and styrenics.

“We are seeing increasing demand from our customers in North America, and this expansion allows us to maintain our leading position as a reliable supplier of organic peroxides,” said Johan Landfors, managing director of AkzoNobel’s Polymer Chemistry business and the company’s North American regional head.

AkzoNobel claims to offer the world's largest range of peresters, sold under its Trigonox trademark. By its own account, the group has invested more than €85 million since 2015 on upgrading technologies to better supply customers in the plastics industry, thereby increasing capacity and repositioning its global manufacturing footprint at existing sites in Mexico, the Netherlands, Belgium, China, Italy, Brazil and the US.

The Mexico upgrade adds further momentum to AkzoNobel’s strategy to expand in key markets, noted Thierry Vanlancker, executive committee member responsible for Specialty Chemicals.

 In January of this year, AkzoNobel said it spent €22 million on an upgrade at Los Reyes, expanding organic peroxide output by 50%. The site employing more than 230 people serves as headquarters for its Specialty Chemicals business in Mexico.

As it was being pursued by US coatings rival PPG – which recently dropped its bid after a bitter three-month struggle – the Dutch group announced plans to separate and possibly sell its Specialty Chemicals activities. The business could carry a price tag of about $10 billion, analysts said.