Emery Oleochemicals is the new brand and company name for the fifty-fifty oleochemicals joint venture in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, between PTT Chemical International Private Ltd. and Sime Darby Plantation Sdn Bhd.
Cognis sold its 50 percent stake in the joint venture – formerly known as Cognis Oleochemicals – for 104 million (U.S. $162 million at the time) to PTT last July, completing the transaction in November. PTT is a Singapore-based subsidiary of PTT Chemical Public Co. Ltd., a Bangkok, Thailand-based company that produces olefins and associated products.
Emery Oleochemicals produces a variety of products, including palm oil, palm kernel oil, other vegetable oils and tallow. The products are used in manufacturing soaps and detergents, cosmetics, pharmaceutical products, plastic additives and oilfield drilling chemicals. The company said another main focus is on products for a number of other industries, including coatings and inks, lubricants, as well as agriculture and mining.
Emery has production facilities in the United States, Germany, Canada and Malaysia, and sales and service centers in the United Kingdom, Brazil, Japan, China and Hong Kong. The company has 1,100 employees.
Before last year, Cognis Oleochemicals was a fifty-fifty joint venture between Sime Darby and Cognis. The two companies collaborated on production, marketing and distribution of fatty acids, glycerin and associated products for almost 30 years. In 2006, both companies expanded the joint ventures scope by transferring Cognis global oleochemicals and plastics technology businesses into an operating company.