Top Industry News                                 September 28, 2008 Issue

CSB Issues Final Report on Barton Solvents Explosion 
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board has determined that a fire and series of explosions at the Barton Solvents chemical distribution facility in Des Moines, IA, were caused by a static electrical spark resulting from inadequate electrical bonding and grounding during the filling of a portable steel tank ... More

Acquisition Action Report

PPG to Acquire BASF's North American COEX Business
PPG Industries has reached an agreement with BASF Corp. to acquire BASF's North American coil and extrusion coatings business ... More 

Mallard Creek Polymers and Dow Reichhold Announce Sale
Mallard Creek Polymers Inc., a privately held manufacturer of specialty emulsion polymer products, and Dow Reichhold Specialty Latex have announced that Mallard Creek Polymers has purchased a portfolio of performance polymer products and related assets from Dow Reichhold ... More

Sequa Sells MEGTEC Systems to Hamilton Robinson Capital Partners
Hamilton Robinson Capital Partners, a private equity firm based in Connecticut, announced that together with MEGTEC Systems management, it has acquired MEGTEC from parent company Sequa Corp ... More  

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DuPont Appoints Ellen J. Kullman President and Board Member
DuPont has named Ellen J. Kullman President and a Director of the company ... More

H.B. Fuller Names Barry S. Snyder Chief Technology Officer
H.B. Fuller Co. has announced that Barry S. Snyder will join the company as Chief Technology Officer ... More

Brenntag North America Promotes Lance Kitzelman
Brenntag North America has announced the promotion of Lance Kitzelman to CASE Specialties Marketing Director ... More

Rahn AG Appoints New Technical Sales Manager
Rahn AG has named Matthew Sheridan Technical Sales Manager ... More

Emerald Performance Materials Appoints Sara Farling
Emerald Specialty Polymers LLC has appointed Sara Farling Director of its Specialty Nitrile Polymers product line ... More 

Dr. I-lin Cheng Added to RNT Advisory Board
Reactive NanoTechnologies Inc. has announced that Dr. I-lin Cheng will serve on the company's Board of Advisors ... More

Ecology Coatings Announces Board Changes
Ecology Coatings Inc. has announced the resignation from the Board of Directors of David W. Morgan and F. Thomas Krotine ... More

Business Barometer

Rohm and Haas Declares Quarterly Dividend
The Board of Directors of Rohm and Haas Co. has declared a regular quarterly dividend of $.41 per common share. This dividend will be payable on Dec. 1, 2008, to shareholders of record at the close of business on Oct. 31, 2008.

PPG Restructures Business Units
PPG Industries has announced plans to restructure two of its business units, closing facilities in the Netherlands and Canada ... More 

Univar Announces Two Distribution Agreements
Eastman Chemical Co. has appointed Univar Canada Ltd. as its exclusive distributor for its domestic and imported hydrocarbon resin business ... More 

Pilot Chemical Achieves CleanGredients^® Listing
Pilot Chemical Co. has achieved the listing of eight surfactant products with CleanGredients^® ... More

Dow Declares Force Majeure for Ethyleneamine Highers
The Dow Chemical Co. has declared force majeure for its ethyleneamine highers sourced from the U.S. Gulf Coast ... More

Mayan Pigments Receives Emerging Technology Funds
Mayan Pigments Inc., El Paso, TX, has been awarded funds from the Emerging Technology Fund (ETF) of the State of Texas ... More

Bayer Opens Waterborne Dispersions Facility in Asia
Bayer MaterialScience has celebrated the startup of a new 20,000-tons-per-year facility for polyurethane dispersions at the Bayer Integrated Site in Shanghai ... More 

Supplier Price Alerts

Evonik Increases Price of VESTANAT^® in Asia
Evonik Industries' Coatings & Additives Business Unit has announced a price increase for the product group VESTANAT in Asia by 10 percent, effective Oct. 1, 2008.    

Tronox to Increase TiO2 Price in Latin America
Tronox Inc. has announced that prices for all TRONOX^® titanium dioxide (TiO2) grades sold in Latin America will increase by U.S. $150 per tonne, effective Oct. 1, 2008, or as contracts allow. This increase is in addition to all previously announced price increases for this region.

Association News 

Russ Brown Elected Vice President of SSPC
Russ Brown, an executive with Munters Moisture Control Services (MCS), has been elected Vice President of the Executive Board of the Society for Protective Coatings ... More