GEO Specialty Chemicals will buy BASFs bisomer monomer business, including a former Cognis facility in England that produces polyalkylene glycols and PAG-based lubricants. Terms were not disclosed.
Subject to approval by the EU Commission, the transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2011. About 140 employees are expected to transfer to the new owner, GEO Specialty Chemicals UK Ltd.
When the EU Commission approved BASFs acquisition of Cognis in December 2010, it required BASF to divest the Hythe, England plant. The commission stated that BASF would grant intellectual property rights that will allow the buyer of the former Cognis plants in Hythe to produce PAG and PAG-based lubricants, exclusively for BASF for a transition period and then in its own right.
Under the current transaction, BASF has agreed to purchase from GEO PAG and PAG-based lubricants manufactured at the Hythe site under a long term supply agreement.
The PAG products are used in a variety of industries and applications, such as compressor lubricants, hydraulic fluids, industrial fluids, gear lubricants and refrigeration.
The Hythe plant also produces hydroxyl methacrylates, multifunctional methacrylates and specialty adducts.
Privately-owned GEO Specialty Chemicals of Lafayette, Ind., has 18 manufacturing facilities. Its divisions include water treatment, paints and coatings, and construction and industrial.