Degussa and Engineered Carbons Combine Carbon Black Businesses in North America

Degussa's position on the North American market significantly strengthened by creation of new joint venture

20-Nov-2001
November 19, 2001 Degussa Corp. and Engineered Carbons, Inc. (ECI) today announced the signing of a letter of intent to set up a joint venture combining their North American Carbon Black businesses. The new 50:50 joint venture is scheduled to begin operating on January 1, 2002, under the name of Degussa Engineered Carbons, LP. Equipped with a full range of furnace and thermal blacks from six U.S. plants operated by Degussa and ECI, the joint venture will mainly be concentrating on the rubber-processing industry and on plastics, printing ink, lacquer and paint applications. The Degussa Advanced Fillers & pigments Business Unit will be responsible for marketing and sales. Along with its operations, Degussa brings significant know-how to the joint venture as one of the world's leading producers of carbon blacks and as a provider of a unique system of advanced filler materials for tires, consisting of carbon blacks, precipitated silicas and silane coupling agents. Degussa also holds a leading position in specialty pigment blacks designed for coatings, inks and plastics. ECI holds an outstanding reputation as a US manufacturer of carbon blacks and thus contributes significantly to the new joint venture. Ameripol Synpol Corporation, the parent company of ECI, is a leading synthetic rubber producer in the United States. The new joint venture is being set up in Parsippany, New Jersey, the location of Degussa Corporation, which manages Degussa's US activities. Referring to the joint venture, Mahendra Parekh, Chairman und CEO of Ameripol Synpol Corporation, comments: "The combination creates a strong company well equipped to better serve a broad customer base with high quality products and unmatched service." Dr. Carl Voigt, Executive Vice President of Degussa, states: "This step not only takes us forward to a leading position in North America but also enables us to significantly increase our problem-solving potential to the benefit of our customers."

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