Industry News (Week of 5/29/06)

BASF DOUBLES POLYETHERAMINE CAPACITY AT GEISMAR SITE

BASF, Florham Park, NJ, has completed debottlenecking efforts at the company's Gesimar, LA, manufacturing site, doubling the company's North American production capacity for its polyetheramine products. Polyetheramines are used in polyurea and epoxy systems employed in the automotive and construction industries. Other applications include plastics, composites and adhesives. "This additional polyetheramine capacity will be good news for our polyurea and epoxy customers," said Christiane Hackl, Industry manager, Epoxy and Polyurea Products for BASF's intermediates business in North America. "We have seen strong growth of our products in these markets, as well as strong growth of these markets themselves. Increasing our polyetheramine capacity enables us to ensure that BASF can meet the current and future needs of our customers in North America."

For more information, visit http://www.basf.com/usa .

CELANESE BREAKS GROUND ON NEW EMULSIONS FACILITY IN CHINA

Celanese, Dallas, TX, has begun construction on an emulsion polymers facility at the Nanjing Industrial Park in the city of Nanjing, China, its tenth such facility worldwide. Healthy economic growth throughout the world is driving demand for emulsion polymers that deliver better performance and quality in manufactured products. Celanese emulsion polymers will meet these needs for a range of markets in Asia, including nonwovens, adhesives, coatings products and high-tech glass fiber. Celanese is also building a 600,000 metric ton acetic acid facility and a 300,000 metric ton vinyl acetate monomer plant at the Industrial Park, which will begin operations in early 2007 and 2008, respectively.

For more information, visit http://www.celanese.com .

CHARLES ROSS & SON CO. ADDS NEW APPLICATION ENGINEER TO CORPORATE STAFF

Ramiro (Little) Magboo has been added to the corporate staff of Charles Ross & Son Co., Hauppauge, NY, as an application engineer. Magboo is a 2004 graduate of De La Salle University and holds a degree in chemical engineering. He previously worked with Shell Petroleum, and is involved in the technical application engineering aspects of the business in his new role at Ross.

For more information, call (800) 243-ROSS.

HENKEL APPOINTS GLOBAL PRODUCT MANAGER FOR DIE ATTACH

The electronics group of Henkel, Irvine, CA, has announced the promotion of Michael Buckley to the position of global product manager for die attach. A 15-year industry veteran, Buckley has held a variety of development and engineering roles at several electronics industry materials firms where he assisted with formulation and engineering support for conductive inks, dielectric films, and leadframe die attach materials. Most recently, Buckley served as senior technical service engineer for Henkel in support of leading packaging customers' die attach processes.

For more information, visit http://www.henkelelectronics.com or call (949) 789-2500.

INTERNATIONAL PAPER SELLS 275,000 ACRES OF ADIRONDACK FORESTLAND

International Paper, Stamford, CT, has signed an agreement with the Lyme Timber Co. for the sale of 275,000 acres of forestland in New York's Adirondack Park for approximately $137 million. The sale will benefit Lyme Forest Fund L.P. and is part of International Paper's previously announced transformation plan to focus on uncoated papers and industrial and consumer packaging globally. The Lyme Timber Company is a New Hampshire Limited Partnership organized in 1976 to invest in forestland and rural real estate for its own account and in partnership with other investors. This agreement substantially completes International Paper's sales of its U.S. forestlands identified as part of the company's transformation plan.

For more information, visit http://www.internationalpaper.com .

SIKA CORP. TO INCREASE PRODUCTION CAPACITY FOR POLYURETHANE ADHESIVE

Sika Corp. has announced that it will invest $17.8 million over the next two years to increase capacity for polyurethane sealant and adhesives production at its headquarters facility in Lyndhurst, NJ. Existing Sika powders and mortars manufacturing operations in Lyndhurst will be moved to other Sika locations, or to certain alliance partners of Sika.

For more information, visit http://www.sikaindustry.com .