Mergers, Acquisitions, Partnerships & Expansions
Baker Hughes & GE Oil & Gas complete merger
Baker Hughes and GE Oil & Gas have officially combined creating what the new company calls, "the world’s first and only fullstream oil and gas company." According to a July 3 announcement, the new entity called Baker Hughes, a GE Company (BHGE) is the first and only to bring together industry-leading equipment, services and digital solutions across the entire spectrum of oil and gas development.
Lorenzo Simonelli, president and CEO of BHGE said, "Disruptive change is the oil and gas industry’s new normal. We created BHGE because oil and gas customers need to withstand volatility, work smarter and bring energy to more people."
Starting immediately "BHGE will help its customers acquire, transport and refine hydrocarbons more efficiently, productively and safely, with a smaller environmental footprint and at lower cost per barrel," according to the announcement.
Dow Chemical to divest a portion of its corn hybrid seed business as it prepares for merger with DuPont
The Dow Chemical Company has entered into a definitive agreement with CITIC Agri Fund to divest a select portion of Dow AgroSciences’ corn seed business in Brazil for a purchase price of $1.1 billion. The scope of the divestiture includes seed processing plants and seed research centers, a copy of Dow AgroSciences’ Brazilian corn germplasm bank, the Morgan seed brand and a license for the use of the Dow Sementes brand for a certain period of time. The assets being divested generated revenues in 2016 of approximately $287 million.
The divestiture is intended to satisfy Dow’s commitments to Brazil’s Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) in connection with its conditional regulatory clearance of the proposed merger with DuPont. The divestiture will be conditioned on Dow and DuPont closing their merger transaction, in addition to other customary closing conditions, including approval of the divestiture transaction by CADE.
Previously announced are DuPont’s divestment of certain parts of its global crop protection portfolio and R&D pipeline and organization and Dow’s global Ethylene Acrylic Acid copolymers and ionomers business, consistent with commitments already made to the European Commission and regulatory agencies in other jurisdictions.
The Dow/DuPont transaction is still expected to generate cost synergies of approximately $3 billion and growth synergies of $1 billion, and both companies have reaffirmed their expectation to close the merger in August 2017, with the intended spin-offs to occur within 18 months of closing.
Viega breaks ground for new headquarters
Viega LLC broke ground for its new corporate headquarters and new training facility in Broomfield, Colorado. The groundbreaking was attended by local Viega colleagues and family members, Viega Group representatives from the global headquarters in Attendorn, Germany and local Broomfield officials. The state-of-the-art, 55,000-square-foot North American headquarters and 24,000-square-foot training facility will be situated on Viega LLC’s 11.8-acre campus in Broomfield.
Viega’s new headquarters in Broomfield, Colorado.
LANXESS’s Rhein Chemie business combines rubber, colorant specialties
Specialty chemicals company LANXESS revised its organizational structure following the acquisition of U.S. firm Chemtura last April. The Rubber Additives Business and Colorant Additives Business business lines now belong to the Rhein Chemie business unit. The unit will cover specialty business with active ingredient compounds, specialty chemicals and processing aids for the rubber, plastics and colorants industries. The name Rhein Chemie will remain the umbrella brand for rubber and colorants business. The lubricant and flame retardant additives business has been transferred to LANXESS’s Additives business unit. Together, these two business units form the Specialty Additives segment in the company’s extended organizational structure.
Metso signs distribution agreement with Process Control Equipment
Metso signed a distribution agreement for its valve products with Process Control Equipment (PCE), to cover the U.K., Benelux and Spain. Under the non-exclusive agreement, PCE will add to its current portfolio of Metso’s Neles and Jamesbury product families for all process industries in all countries. PCE has been distributing Metso’s Jamesbury valves in the U.K. since 2012.
Setpoint Integrated Solutions acquires GE’s direct channel operations
Setpoint Integrated Solutions acquired GE’s direct channel operations for the Consolidated and Masoneilan Sales and Services operations (formerly Dresser Direct Inc.). The transaction includes the Sales, Green Tag Center and Masoneilan Authorized Repair Center operations located in Deer Park, Texas, Richwood, Texas and Corpus Christi, Texas. In addition, the acquisition will extend Setpoint Integrated Solutions’ representative territory for the Groth Corporation among other manufacturing partners.
Rittal partners with Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Rittal and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) are partnering to deliver modular data center solutions for the global market. Rittal will bring its portfolio of modular and scalable data center solutions from a micro data center to largely scalable container solutions. This will be complemented by HPE Pointnext-services. The partnership will offer complete IT solutions and competencies and bring customers around the world the support, equipment and consultancy needed to take advantage of the latest IoT and IT Edge requirements.
Goodway Technologies acquires BioSpray sanitation product lines
Goodway Technologies has wholly acquired the complete line of BioSpray Power Pack Systems from 1 Priority Biocidal LLC, as well as distribution rights for the BioSpray D2 sanitation product. The acquisition is designed to strengthen Goodway’s offering of cleaning and sanitation solutions.
Schneider Electric to manage GSK Supplier Exchange
Schneider Electric entered a partnership with GSK to manage an online community that gives the healthcare leaders’ suppliers information and tools to improve environmental performance through energy, water and waste management. Schneider Electric will serve as the community manager for the GSK Supplier Exchange, a members-only online community that helps suppliers create positive and tangible environmental change.
Jabil accelerates innovation with Blue Sky Center
Jabil Inc. held a grand opening for its Blue Sky Innovation Center – Tortosa. The center is strategically located with its manufacturing plant in Tortosa, Spain to provide pan-European support for advanced packaging customers across the continent. The new 18,000-square-foot facility is designed to enable competitive innovation for customers by helping them compress product lifestyles, respond more quickly to changing market demands and reduce the risk and costs associated with design, supply and manufacturing. Blue Sky Innovation Center – Tortosa is the second of its kind in the world behind Blue Sky – San Jose, which opened in April 2015.
Appointments
New CEO for TÜV SÜD’s Industry Service Division
Reiner Block is the new CEO of TÜV SÜD‘s Industry Service Division. Block succeeds Bernhard Kerscher, who is leaving the company to seek new professional challenges after seven years with the company. In this new role, Block will be charged with the growing market of renewable energies and energy efficiency as well as industrial automation and the Internet of Things (IoT), also known as Industry 4.0. Block served as CEO of TÜV Hessen since 2010. He will be succeeded as CEO of TÜV Hessen by Henning Stricker, previously business unit manager of Auto Service at TÜV Hessen.
Bérard named group EVP of Camfil’s Air Pollution Control Global unit
Camfil appointed Alain Bérard as group executive vice president in charge of the Air Pollution Control (APC) global business unit. In this role, Bérard is responsible for developing and supporting the growth of the APC unit around the world.
Bérard has worked with Camfil for 21 years in various top managerial positions including group VP sales and marketing for ten years. For the past four years, Bérard was in charge of Camfil’s global product portfolio, R&D and communication.
Asahi/America hires business development manager
Alex Gambino was has transitioned from Asahi/America Inc.’s https://www.asahi-america.com engineering department to assume the role of business development manager for Asahi/the company’s industrial piping lines in the western region and Mexico. Gambino has been with Asahi/America since 2007 in a variety of positions including field technician, applications engineer, division manager of piping systems, and most recently as engineering manager.
WAGO elects new engineer for Midwest zone
WAGO named Stephen Foster as field applications engineer for the Midwest zone, covering southern Illinois, western Indiana, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska. Foster earned a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in computer science and has nine years of experience working as a senior controls engineer.
Caloris Engineering’s Zimmer becomes chief technology officer
Caloris Engineering co-founder Artur Zimmer transitioned to the role of chief technology officer. Zimmer, who retains a significant ownership position in the company, served as CEO for the past several years. Current Caloris president Jim Peterson was appointed CEO. Educated in Germany, Zimmer spent his career developing and implementing innovative thermal processing technologies to help customers with energy efficiency, reliability, product quality and hygiene. Zimmer had been president of Caloris since its inception in 2006, transitioning to the role of CEO several years ago.
Acme-Hardesty adds supply chain, sales staff
Acme-Hardesty, a division of Jacob Stern & Sons hired two new staff members. Erik Tkacs was named inventory planning coordinator and will assist in managing relationships with third-party storage, service and transportation providers for bulk and packaged products. He will also execute day-to-day inventory management tasks to ensure the highest level of inventory accuracy, lowest inventory carrying costs and high levels of customer service. Deanna Mulicka was named inside sales and marketing specialist. In this role, she will grow and manage customer relationships with a focus on the personal care and food markets. She will also handle sales force back-up coverage and lead management and inside marketing activities.
Fairmont Supply appoints VP & GM
Fairmont Supply named Brian Saenz vice president and general manager of its subsidiary Piping and Equipment. In this role, Saenz will be responsible for growing sales, oversight of the distribution center operations, managing profitability and supporting the integration of acquisitions. He will be based in the company’s Houston, Texas location. Saenz comes to Fairmont Supply – Piping and Equipment with more than 15 years of leadership experience and a proven record of building high-performance teams and improving company profitability and efficiency. Most recently, he was the global director of sales and national accounts at Bain Capital/APEX Tool Group. Prior to APEX, he spent 12 years with W.W. Grainger in various sales and operations leadership roles.
Sikich names lead for manufacturing & distribution
Professional services firm Sikich LLP named Jerry Murphy, CPA, partner-in-charge of manufacturing and distribution. Murphy has more than 25 years experience working with manufacturing companies on assurance, operations improvement, strategic planning and mergers and acquisitions. Murphy is a member of the executive board for the Valley Industrial Association, a professional organization providing resources and educational and networking opportunities to manufacturers in Kane, Kendall, DeKalb and western DuPage counties in Illinois.
HarbisonWalker International announces CEO transition
The board of directors for HarbisonWalker International (HWI) has named Carol R. Jackson, former senior vice president and general manager at HWI, to replace Stephen Delo as chairman and chief executive officer. Delo served in several manufacturing and management roles over the course of 30 years. He served at HWI’s helm for three and a half years. Jackson is charged with working with HWI’s leadership team to build on the solid foundation of the past three years and effectively position HWI for growth.
BCCK Holding Company appoints new VP of engineering
BCCK Holding Company named Tony Canfield as vice president of engineering to support company growth in process and mechanical engineering. Canfield will be based in Midland, Texas, and joins BCCK from DCP Midstream, where he served as project engineering manager in the Midland area. He comes to BCCK with 36 years experience in the oil and gas industry having worked in various locations throughout the U.S. and the U.K.
Awards & Milestones
EGC exceeds 1 million hours without incident
EGC Critical Components exceeded one million hours without a lost time incident. The company implemented a program focused on improving health, safety and environment with the goal of having EGC safety culture transcend past the workplace and into the employee’s personal life. EGC’s safety program is ongoing and remains a core value. The company will be recognized by its parent company, Fenner plc later this year.
ChemSpec’s Mexican subsidiary celebrates year anniversary
ChemSpec Ltd., a member of the Safic-Alcan Group, formed the subsidiary ChemSpec México in August 2016, to serve the rapid growth of automotive manufacturing in Mexico, specifically in the central states often referred to as the "automotive/rubber triangle." This strategic location in Querétaro, with additional warehousing and logistics business support in nearby Laredo, Texas, enables to company to provide sales and technical support to the elastomer compounding industry − notably for tire and technical rubber production in the region. ChemSpec Mexico also supports other Mexican coatings, adhesives, sealants, elastomer and plastics manufacturing segments.
