BASF Buys Solvay’s Nylon 66 Business

BASF (U.S. office in Florham Park, N.J.) has agreed to buy the nylon 66 business of Solvay SA (U.S. office in Alpharetta, Ga). The transaction, which will further bolster BASF’s position in nylon engineering resins, is expected to be finalized in the third quarter of 2018. The acquisition will include Solvay’s upstream and downstream nylon business in Europe, North America, and Asia, as well as the downstream engineering plastics business in Latin America.

Included in the acquisition are some of the newer nylon 66 materials in the Technyl brand that Solvay acquired from Rhodia in 2011, such as Technyl 4 Earth, a 100% post-industrial nylon 66 sourced from airbags; and Tecnyl REDx, a high-heat nylon 66 based on a patented technology that eliminates the need for heat stabilizers. Both of these were introduced at the K 2016 show in Dusseldorf. Solvay will retain its MXD6 and PPA resins.