BASF and ExxonMobil Chemical Co. announced Monday that BASF has acquired ExxonMobils Vistanex LM polyisobutylene business. The companies did not disclose terms of the deal,which did not include manufacturing facilities or personnel.
ExxonMobil Chemical will continue making Vistanex MM high molecular weight polyisobutylene at its Baytown, Texas, facility and supplyingit worldwide. For the immediate future, ExxonMobil Chemical has agreed to continue making Vistanex LM products and to sell them to BASF, which will sell to customers. The German chemical giant will begin producing the LM products at its new Ludwigshafen, Germany, PIB plant after the products are qualified.
The products covered by the transaction are sold to the lubricants industry, as well as to manufacturers of chewing gum, adhesives and sealants. The lubes industry has used PIBs since the 1960s as viscosity modifiers.
BASF is already a leading global supplier of medium and high molecular weight PIBs.