Clariant

Clariant is a speciality chemicals company, formed in 1995 as a spin-off from Sandoz. The company is focused on four business areas: care chemicals (consumer and industrial); catalysis; natural resources (oil & mining, minerals); and plastics & coatings. Headquartered near Basel, Switzerland, the public company encompasses 110 operating companies in 53 countries. Major manufacturing sites are located in Europe, North America, South America, China and India. In 2015, sales from continuing operations were 5.8 billion CHF.

European markets account for about one-third of sales, while Asia-Pacific, North America and Latin America account for about one-fifth each. Net income in 2015 was 227 million CHF, while EBITDA was 853 million CHF, yielding an EBITDA margin (as a percentage of sales) of 14.7% before exceptional items. The company’s post-2015 target is an EBITDA margin of 16-19%. EBITDA margin in the 2010-15 period was 10-15%, above its sub-10% levels of 2001-09. Clariant management aims to boost EBITDA margin further by: cost cutting and efficiency; sales growth, especially in Asia; and innovation in products and business processes.^[5]

Business

The company has sales of around US$6 billion. Headquarters are officially in Muttenz, but most central functions are officed in a dedicated corporate centre in nearby Pratteln, both near Basel, Switzerland. Clariant's four business areas, in descending order of revenues, are:

Plastics & Coatings

42% of sales, EBITDA margin of 13%, 'global GDP' growth ambition (currently 3-4%/year)

Products: additives, master batches and pigments for plastics processing; additives and pigments for paints and other coatings

Care Chemicals

25% of sales, EBITDA margin of 19%, 4-5%/year growth ambition

Products: de-icers, emulsifiers, food supplements, industrial fluids, surfactants, pesticide-delivery formulations, a process for making cellulosic ethanol,

Natural Resources

21% of sales, EBITDA margin of 17%, 6-7%/year growth ambition

Products: chemicals that assist production and processing of oil & gas, ores and metals

Catalysts

12% of sales, EBITDA margin of 25%, 6-7%/year growth ambition

Products: catalysts for C1 chemistry (ammonia, methanol and syn-gas), steam-cracker olefins and derivatives, on-purpose propylene and polypropylene and various refining processes

Sales by region (2015), in descending order of (CHF millions) volume, are :

Europe 1,931

Asia-Pacific 1,373

North America 1,077

Latin America 1,021

Middle East & Africa 405

Origin, acquisitions and divestitures

The company started in 1995, as a spinoff (IPO) of the chemical operations of Sandoz, which then merged its pharmaceutical business with that of Ciba-Geigy to form Novartis. (Ciba-Geigy also went on to spin out its chemical operations, called Ciba, which was later acquired by BASF.) In 1997 Clariant grew substantially, with the acquisition of the Hoechst speciality chemicals business. In 2000 Clariant bought British Tar Products (BTP plc), in 2006 Clariant bought Ciba's Masterbatches divition, and in 2011 Clariant acquired German speciality chemical company Süd-Chemie. In 2013 Clariant divested its textile chemicals, emulsions and paper specialities businesses to SK Capital. In 2014, Clariant divested its leather services to Stahl Holdings and its detergents & intermediates business to Weylchem of the International Chemical Investors Group. Clariant International Ltd partners with matchmycolor LLC, a colour know-how company and Konica Minolta Inc, a Japanese technology company to efficiently colour match the polyolefin products easier and faster. ^[6]

Research & Development

As of end-2015, some 1,100 of Clariant's some 17,000 employees were engaged in R&D, mainly at the company's 8 global R&D centers and its 50+ technical application centers. In 2015 the company spent CHF 204 million, or 3.5% of sales on R&D.

Sustainability

Clariant is a constituent of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) World and the DJSI Europe. It also is a constituent of the FTSE4Good Index.

See also

• List of oilfield service companies

Notes

References

• Anna Bálint: Clariant clareant. The beginnings of a specialty chemicals company, Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main/New York 2012, ISBN 978-3-593-39374-2.

External links

• Official website