ESSEN, Germany - Evonik Industries is transforming into one of the leading suppliers of additives for the coatings industry. The acquisition of Air Products’ Performance Materials division, completed in early January, made a key contribution to this effort.

Effective January 3, 2017, Evonik merged its Coating Additives Business Line, the coatings business of its Silica Business Line and the Specialty Additives branch of Air Products with a focus on substrate wetting additives. Dr. Claus Rettig, Chairman of the Board of Management, Evonik Resource Efficiency GmbH, commented on the move, “The result is one of the world’s leading additives suppliers for the coatings industry. Our technology platform is unlike any other in the world. It allows us to develop innovative solutions for just about any formulation challenge in the paints and coatings industry.”

The products of the new business line complement each other well. The broad range of additives for water-based coatings under the TEGO^® brand will be combined with AEROSIL^® silica to control the rheological properties of paints and coatings as well as the ACEMATT^® matting agent. The acquired substrate wetting agents under the SURFYNOL^® and DYNOL™ brand names, and additional expertise on the formulation of automotive coatings in particular, are a good complement to the coatings additives portfolio.

Dr. Gaetano Blanda will head of the new business line, which includes some 450 employees at around 30 production and research sites. The business line currently offers about 500 products.

Other than the expanded product portfolio, the acquisition of the Performance Materials division of Air Products will not impact customers. “Contact persons and existing contracts will remain unaffected. It is our aim to provide our customers in the coatings industry with the best possible long-term product and service portfolio," said Blanda.