EL DORADO — As of April 21, Lanxess Corp. has acquired the U.S. company Chemtura, which includes the production site in El Dorado. The community welcoming event took place at the Great Lakes Solutions (Chemtura) Central Plant on Monday at 11 a.m., where the merger between Chemtura Corp. and Lanxess was announced. Local community leaders and employees were in attendance.
“El Dorado is the key location for our global flame retardant activities business in regards to both product development and production,” head of the Additives Business Unit, Anno Borkowsky, said in a news release. “The innovative products and technologies there are an outstanding fit for our existing portfolio and are important to our growth plans in this area.
“At the same time, this new Lanxess location further expands our presence in North America. We warmly welcome our new colleagues to the Lanxess family and look forward to working together with them in the future,” Borkowsky said.
Chemtura currently employs approximately 430 company employees and 150 contract employees, who produce brominated flame retardant additives, bromine and further bromine deviates. According to the news release, the acquisition of Chemtura now makes Lanxess one of the world’s leading suppliers of flame retardant additives.
Lanxess plans to be actively involved as a corporate citizen and over the next five years, is pledging a total of $250,000 to support local school’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) programs. The company will also sponsor the El Dorado Boys and Girls Club with a donation of $10,000.
“It is part of our corporate philosophy to actively assume social responsibility in the communities surrounding our sites — all around the world,” Borkowsky said. “That’s why back in 2008, we launched a global education initiative with which we support school students in the field of the natural sciences in particular. In the coming months, we shall join representatives of the local school districts to work out some specific projects for El Dorado.”
Lanxess currently has 75 production sites worldwide in 25 countries and is also a leading supplier of synthetic rubber. In the North America, the company currently has 24 production sites and about 2,800 employees in the North American Free Trade Agreement region. Lanxess predicts annual medium-term growth of 3 to 4 percent for the flame retardant additives market, driven primarily by the trend toward energy-efficient buildings, according to the news release.
Kaitlyn Rigdon is a staff writer at the El Dorado News-Times and she may be reached at 870-862-6611 or by email, [email protected].