With pro forma sales of around €2.4 billion in 2017 and approximately 5,200 employees, the combined company is positioned to provide an expanded product portfolio and cost-effective solutions for paper and water treatment customers. BASF will hold a 49% share, 51% of the shares will be held by funds managed by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and the Solenis management.
The transaction includes production sites and plants of BASF’s paper wet-end and water chemicals business in Bradford and Grimsby, UK; Suffolk, Virginia, USA; Altamira, Mexico; Ankleshwar, India, and Kwinana, Australia. From closing, BASF will account for its share in Solenis using the equity method and include its share of the company’s net income in EBIT before special items and EBIT for the BASF Group (reported under “Other”).
“Combining our strong heritages creates the leading customer-focused, global solutions provider for the paper and water industries. Customers from these industries will benefit from our joint strengths, resulting in an unparalleled and complementary range of products and services, state-of-the-art innovations and know-how,” said John Panichella, president and CEO, Solenis.
“Joining forces with Solenis is the right step for BASF’s paper and water chemicals business to maintain sustainable growth and will enable us to share in the future success of this promising joint entity. Together, we will provide the broadest scope of products and services to meet the needs of the global paper and water industry,” added Anup Kothari, president of BASF’s Performance Chemicals division.
BASF’s paper and water chemicals production plants strongly embedded in the Verbund in Ludwigshafen, Germany, and Nanjing, China, are not transferred, and will deliver products and raw materials to the combined entity under mid- to long-term supply agreements. BASF’s paper coating chemicals portfolio is not part of the transaction.
Neue KI soll Extremwetter besser vorhersagen
Ein Forschungsteam der ETH Zürich hat ein neues KI-Modell entwickelt, das Zusammenhänge zwischen Atmosphäre, Landoberfläche und Wasserkreislauf analysieren kann. Das sogenannte „Earth System Foundation Model“ soll dabei helfen, Wetterextreme wie Stürme oder Dürren besser zu verstehen und vorherzusagen. Die KI kann zudem fehlende Daten ergänzen und unterschiedliche Umwelt- und Wetterdaten gemeinsam auswerten. Getestet wurde das Modell unter anderem am Supertaifun Doksuri, dessen Entwicklung und Ausbreitung die KI mit hoher Genauigkeit rekonstruieren konnte.
