Volume 6 Issue 14

Lubrizol Announces Fifth Spin-off

Lubrizol Corp. announced Friday that it has reached an agreement to sell its active pharmaceutical ingredient and intermediate compounds business in a leveraged management buyout. It is the fifth of five non-core operations that Lubrizol announced it would spin off last July. The buyer for the latest deal is the existing management team in cooperation with Auctus Management GmbH, a private equity firm based in Munich. Lubrizol did not disclose terms of the transaction, which is expected to close...

Ford Lube Patents on Auction Block

A portfolio of patents for solid film lubricants developed by Ford Motor Co. is among the items being offered tomorrow in an event billed as the worlds first live, multi-lot technology patent auction. Chicago-based merchant bank Ocean Tomo is hosting the auction at the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco. The company said one lot will include 36 patents developed by Ford, including several revolutionary lubrication techniques for internal combustion engines and drivetrains. Ocean Tomo said Ford develo...

Is Cognis for Sale?

Cognis Holding Luxembourg, parent company of Cognis, announced yesterday that it has decided to explore and pursue various strategic options, and has selected the investment banks Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan to assist in the review. While the company offered no further comment, Plastics & Rubber Weekly reported yesterday that two options are under consideration: an initial public offering of shares and the possible sale of the business to an industry or financial buyer. The sale would in...

Panel Calls Prestone Ads Unfounded

The Council of Better Business Bureaus National Advertising Division recommended last month that Honeywell Consumer Products Group cease advertisements claiming Prestone Extended Life Antifreeze can be used in all cars and light trucks and that it is compatible with all other antifreezes. A self-regulatory forum for the advertising industry, NAD concluded Honeywell failed to provide a basis for those claims. The case was triggered by a challenge from Valvoline Co. An official there told Lube Rep...

Excel Paralubes Recovers from Fire

Excel Paralubes resumed operations this week, resolving the last in a series of major disruptions that have bludgeoned the U.S. lubricant industry. ConocoPhillips, a co-owner of the Westlake, La., plant, distributed letters to customers yesterday stating that the joint venture has repaired damage caused by a Feb. 1 fire and that the plant is producing base oils. ConocoPhillips and Flint Hills Resources each own 50 percent of Excel Paralubes. This is great news, said one lubricant blender, who pr...