Arkema Strengthens Its Commitment to the Circular Economy With the Acquisition of Agiplast

COLOMBES, France--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Regulatory News:

With the planned acquisition of Agiplast, a leader in the regeneration of high performance polymers, in particular specialty polyamides and fluoropolymers, Arkema (Paris:AKE) will be able to offer a full service to customers in terms of materials circularity, addressing growing market expectations in this field. This project, which contributes to the sustainable development of the polymer industry, is perfectly in line with Arkema’s sustainable growth strategy.

Arkema plans to acquire Agiplast, a company specialized in the regeneration of high performance polymers and its historical partner in recycling operations. The company, with annual sales of around €15 million, operates a plant in Italy and has 32 employees. Agiplast’s strong know-how in mechanical recycling technologies will enable Arkema to offer high quality recycled polymers to its customers.

In October 2019, Arkema, the world leader in bio-based high performance polymers, had already launched Virtucycle^®, an ambitious program with Agiplast aimed at developing loops for the collection and regeneration of high performance polymers while minimizing CO₂ emissions.

With this acquisition, Arkema will be the first fully integrated high performance polymer manufacturer offering both bio-based and recycled materials in order to address the challenges of resource scarcity and end-of-life products. This bolt-on acquisition is thus in line with Arkema’s CSR and sustainable growth strategy, and in particular the transition to a circular economy.

The deal is expected to close in June 2021.

Building on its unique set of expertise in materials science, Arkema offers a portfolio of first-class technologies to address ever-growing demand for new and sustainable materials. With the ambition to become in 2024 a pure player in Specialty Materials, the Group is structured into 3 complementary, resilient and highly innovative segments dedicated to Specialty Materials -Adhesive solutions, Advanced Materials, and Coating Solutions- accounting for some 82% of Group sales, and a well-positioned and competitive Intermediates segment. Arkema offers cutting-edge technological solutions to meet the challenges of, among other things, new energies, access to water, recycling, urbanization and mobility, and fosters a permanent dialogue with all its stakeholders. The Group reported sales of around €8 billion in 2020, and operates in some 55 countries with 20,600 employees worldwide. www.arkema.com