Altana Chemie divests Rembrandtin Lack
Altana Chemie divests Rembrandtin Lack
Altana Chemie AG is divesting its Austrian subsidiary, Rembrandtin Lack Ges.m.b.H., Vienna, to EK Mittelstandsfinanzierung AG, the private equity fund of Bank Austria Creditanstalt AG (HypoVereinsbank Group). The respective agreement was signed by the end of January 2005 and is subject to approval of the relevant cartel authorities. The completion of the transaction is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2005. Rembrandtin, a company within the Altana Coatings & Sealants business unit, specializes in industrial coatings and road marking paints. In 2004, Rembrandtin generated sales of around EUR 33 million and employed, as of 31 December 2004, 127 people. EK Mittelstandsfinanzierung AG will be taking over the company, including the site in Vienna and the entire staff.
“The sale of Rembrandtin is a logically consistent step in the strategic realignment of Altana Coatings & Sealants, to withdraw from the area of industrial coatings and concentrate on expansion in fast-growing niches of specialty chemicals, such as chemical solutions for flexible packaging”,Dr Guido Forstbach, Business Unit Manager and Managing Director of Altana Coatings & Sealants GmbH, explains. “We are therefore following the strategy of being only active in areas that require high rates of innovation and a high demand for technical support”. With the sale of Rembrandtin, Altana Chemie has almost completed its withdrawal from the industrial coatings business. The disposal of the remaining peripheral activities in this area is anticipated in the course of 2005.
