The family owners of thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPUs) producer Merquinsa (Montmeló / Spain; www.merquinsa.com) have agreed to sell the company to Lubrizol (Wickliffe, Ohio / USA; www.lubrizol.com), a major producer of thermoplastic elastomers (TPE). No financial details have been disclosed for the deal scheduled to be finalised by year’s end. The family said it planned to concentrate on its non-chemicals assets. Lubrizol will take on Merquinsa’s 100 employees and integrate the portfolio into its “Estane” engineered polymers business.

In a transaction completed in September, Lubrizol was acquired by Berkshire Hathaway, the investment vehicle of billionaire Warren Buffet, for USD 9.7 bn. Over the past decade, the US elastomers producer has been rather acquisitive, notably buying Noveon International (Cleveland, Ohio / USA; www.noveoninc.com), speciality chemicals spin-off of the former B.F. Goodrich, in 2004 – see Plasteurope.com of 13.05.2004 – followed in 2009 by Dow Chemical’s USD 85m TPU business – see Plasteurope.com of 16.01.2009.

Merquinsa’s portfolio is based on polycaprolactone, adipic polyesters, polyethers and what it calls a “unique” series of co-polymer. Its products for injection moulding, extrusion, calendering, melt coating compounding and adhesive applications are marketed to the automotive, sports & leisure, furniture, textiles and coatings industries under the brand names “Pearlstick”, “Pearlthane”, Pearlthane “Eco”, “Pearlbond” and “Pearlcoat”. Around 95% of production is exported, with 40% of sales in Europe, 33% in Asia and 25% in North America. Earlier this year, the company recently established an office in China’s Guangdong province.