There appears to be no end to the restructuring efforts undertaken by speciality chemicals group Albemarle (Baton Rouge, Louisiana / USA; www.albemarle.com). After a spate of changes following its purchase of Rockwood Holdings (see Plasteurope.com of 22.01.2015), the company in mid-December announced that it had signed a definite agreement to sell its Mineral Flame Retardants and Specialty Chemicals businesses to J.M. Huber Corporation (Edison, New Jersey / USA; www.huber.com). Financial details of the deal, which is expected to close in early 2016, were not disclosed.

The transaction also includes Albemarle’s Martinswerk (Bergheim / Germany; www.martinswerk.de) subsidiary as well as its 50% stake in Magnifin Magnesiaprodukte, a joint venture with RHI (Vienna / Austria, www.rhi-ag.com) – both businesses identified as non-strategic by Albemarle CEO Luke Kissam.

A manufacturer of aluminium trihydrate (ATH) flame retardants, sold under the “Martinal” brand name, Martinswerk will become part of J.M. Huber’s Fire Retardant Additives unit. The company’s Bergheim-based plant reportedly has capacity to turn out 145,000 t/y. Magnifin, by contrast, is considered to be a specialist for magnesium hydroxide.

Huber has been buying a lot of flame retardant business in the past few years, although to date its purchases had been regionally confined to the US.