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On Feb. 1 Westlake Chemical Corp. (Houston, Texas, U.S.) announced the completed acquisition of Hexion Inc.’s (Columbus, Ohio, U.S.) global epoxy business for approximately $1.2 billion in an all-cash transaction. Based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, the epoxy business, which will be branded as Westlake Epoxy, manufactures and develops specialty resins, coatings and composites for a variety of industries, including high-growth and sustainability-oriented end-uses such as wind turbine blades and lightweight automotive structural components.

“With this transaction, Westlake will significantly expand its integrated business by adding a leading downstream portfolio of coatings and composite products,” says Albert Chao, Westlake president and CEO. “Lightweighting is a critical feature for the manufacture of structural components for automobiles and for renewable energy, particularly the composite blades used by wind turbines, and epoxies are key ingredients for these sustainable products. The industries served by Westlake Epoxy are very attractive and the business is expected to be a synergistic addition to Westlake’s existing businesses. We welcome the epoxy employees to the Westlake family and look forward to realizing the opportunities to grow the combined businesses.”

Westlake Epoxy is a global producer of epoxy resins, modifiers and curing agents for high-performance materials, coatings and composites. The fully-integrated business includes upstream base epoxy resins and intermediates delivered as liquid or solid epoxy resins, as well as downstream specialty epoxy resins used in coatings and composites. Westlake Epoxy serves numerous industries, including adhesives; aerospace; automotive; civil engineering and construction; composite and wind energy; electronics; electrical laminates; as well as marine and protective coatings.

The acquisition comes after Westlake closed in the third and fourth quarters of 2021 on its acquisitions of the building products businesses of Boral North America; Dimex LLC, which processes recycled plastic materials to manufacture home and lifestyle products, such as landscape edging, home and office matting, and marine deck edging; and LASCO Fittings LLC, a manufacturer of injected-molded PVC fittings.