Volume 10 Issue 16

Bidding War for Cognis?

Lubrizol and BASF are preparing bids to acquire Cognis, according to Bloomberg and DowJones Newswires. BASF of Ludwigshafen, Germany, was preparing a bid for Dusseldorf, Germany-based Cognis that may value the chemical maker at about 3 billion (U.S. $4 billion), with Lubrizol shaping up as a possible U.S. bidder, Bloomberg reported April 9. On April 13, DowJones Newswires reported that Lubrizol had entered negotiations to acquire Cognis. Lubrizol and BASF declined to comment on the reports. Its ...

Safety-Kleen Pays $15M for Clean Air

Safety-Kleen will pay $15 million to settle violations in southern California over supplying cleaning solvents containing volatile organic compounds without ensuring its customers had the necessary exemptions. Despite the settlement, Safety-Kleen disputes the amounts of VOCs that regulatory officials claim were released. Plano, Texas-based Safety-Kleen will pay $3 million in air quality penalties and costs of the investigation to the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD). It will...

Owners Keep Vehicles Longer

Car owners put 50,000 more miles on their current vehicles than on their previous ones, and pay more attention to maintenance, according to AutoMDs online survey of car owners. AutoMD, a subsidiary of U.S. Auto Parts Network, launched in January 2010 as a free online automotive repair resources for car owners. The company conducted its survey among car owners in December 2009 and January 2010. Not only are consumers holding onto their vehicles for years longer but, more significantly, for mile...

Ash Cloud Grounds ELGI

Due to the uncertainty of air travel over Europe, the European Lubricating Grease Institutes board made the tough call yesterday to postpone its Annual General Meeting in Kiev, Ukraine, from April 24-27 to Oct. 23-26. Only the dates of the meeting have changed, ELGIs Carol Koopman emailed registrants yesterday. The hotel has agreed that the same rates will apply for the rescheduled meeting in October, and there will be no [hotel] penalties. Airport closures caused by the unpredictable cloud of...

ATF Leak Drives Mazda Recalls

Possible automatic transmission fluid leaks led Mazda to recall nearly 90,000 cars in China and Japan starting April 16. Mazda and joint venture Changan Ford Mazda Automobile Co. recalled 54,641 Mazda 3 sedans that use 1.6-liter engines and automatic transmissions, Chinas General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine stated. That included 10,346 imported vehicles produced from February 2008 to March 2009, and 44,295 cars built in China from November 2006 to October 20...

Execs Buy Hoover

Hoover, which supplies tote bins to the lubricants industry, is now under independent ownership following a buyout led by its chief executive officer. Financial terms were not disclosed. A group led by Hoover Group CEO Donald Young purchased a controlling interest in Hoover from a Citgroup subsidiary, the firm announced Thursday. Under management-led, independent ownership, our companys attention and capital will be solely focused on the continuous improvement of Hoovers industry-leading, high ...

SSY Base Oil Shipping Report

Over the past month the shipping market overall has weakened. More tonnage is available in all the key trading areas, including Europe, the Americas and even in Asia. Freights stopped rising several weeks back, and some routes are now seeing reductions. U.S. Gulf of Mexico The amount of open tonnage in the U.S. Gulf has been growing steadily over the past few weeks to the stage that it is no longer a problem to locate shipping space on any trade lane. We still see a degree of solidity in contra...