Kaneka Completes Takeover of BASF’s PVC Additives

Kaneka Belgium, subsidiary of Japanese chemical producer Kaneka, has completed the acquisition of BASF's Vinuran acrylate-based PVC impact modifier and processing aids business.

The deal was announced in December 2013, and anti-trust approval granted in February.

Kaneka said the acquired products would be manufactured in future either at Kaneka's plant at Oevel, Belgium, or at the Wesseling, Germany, site of subsidiary Kaneka Modifiers Deutschland.

Over the past 40 years, Kaneka Belgium has built its modifiers business, in 2011 acquiring Evonik's arcrylate-based processing aid, impact modifiers and specialty modifiers business, thereby picking up the plant at Wesseling.

With the latest deal, the European arm of the Japanese group said it was further strengthening its acrylic-based modifier business in Europe and underscoring its confidence in polymer additives and modifiers, which remain its core business.