Effective 1 October, Arkema (Colombes / France; www.arkema.com) finalised the sale of its tin stabilisers business to specialty chemicals and plastics producer PMC Group (Mount Laurel, New Jersey / USA; www.pmc-group.com) – see Plasteurope.com of 13.07.2012. The business with EUR 180m in sales has production sites in North America, Europe and China. The Chinese activities will not transfer until H1 2013.

The move reflects the French company’s strategy to divest around EUR 400m in sales up to 2016 and focus on innovative, high-margin businesses. In July of this year, the vinyl products activities were sold to the Swiss Klesch Group (Geneva; www.klesch.com) – see Plasteurope.com of 06.07.2012. Tin stabilisers are organometallic products used to prevent heat-induced decomposition in PVC processing. The Arkema portfolio includes the “Thermolite” heat stabilisers for PVC and the “Fascat” catalysts used in automotive applications.