Dow and Lanxess say it's business as usual
01/07/2009
The products and services available through the joint marketing venture that existed between chemical companies Lanxess and Rohm & Haas will continue to be available to the leather industry now that Dow Chemical has completed its acquisition of the latter.
Dow Chemical announced its intention to acquire Rohm & Haas exactly a year ago, but it took until April for the deal to go through. Now, Didier Debier, the new head of leather business at Dow, and Dr Bernhard Wehling, head of the leather business unit at Lanxess, have issued a joint press statement to reassure customers in the leather sector that they can look forward to receiving the same products and the same levels of service as before.
Dr Wehling said in the statement: "We want to offer our partners the best possible solutions to help them meet the challenges of their daily work. Our colleagues at the former Rohm & Haas company are proven experts in the field of acrylate technology, while for historical reasons we at Lanxess are leading suppliers of raw materials for polyurethane finishing dispersions. The two families of materials complement each other ideally, and so [setting up] a marketing co-operation agreement with Rohm & Haas seemed an obvious step to take."
He explained that the initial marketing agreement came into place in 1997 and had brought "considerable benefits" to customers since then, and said that Lanxess aimed now to continue in the same vein with Dow Chemical.
"That is our declared aim at Dow too," said Mr Debier. "Why should we want to change anything? After all, it is the basis of our joint success."
Mr Debier added that, in the medium term, the relationship between his company and Lanxess would bring "further advantages" for the leather industry. He said: "Our plan is to build on the Rohm & Haas's know-how in the fields of acrylate technology and leather chemicals by linking it up to the Dow network. This will strengthen our partnership and provide us with an even larger pool of expertise that we can tap into so that we can offer Lanxess customers innovative solutions."
Lanxess recently announced an increase in its research and development budgets and Dr Wehling has made it clear to leatherbiz.com that the company will continue to develop its own products, rather than simply concentrate on marketing products developed by Dow. He said: “Lanxess will continue to actively focus on developing its own leather chemicals and innovative technologies. Dow and ourselves will provide an outstanding match, which will continue into the future.”
He also said that the new set-up will continue to make use of the specialist Competence Centre his company runs in Santa Croce in Tuscany. “Our centre in Santa Croce will continue to exist,” he said, “and its focus will remain the development of fashion articles, especially for the upper leather market. Italy is a very important location, not only for us, but for the whole leather fashion sector and, as a trend-setter for the leather industry, we simply belong there.”
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