DIC Group to Acquire Businesses from Indonesian Pigments Manufacturer Monokem

DIC Corporation announced that effective Dec, 18, 2012, wholly owned printing inks manufacturing and sales subsidiary PT. DIC Graphics of Jakarta, Indonesia, acquired the phthalocyanine blue crude and pigments businesses – including all related commercial rights, inventories and production facilities – of Indonesian firm PT. Monokem Surya[1].

To date, production of organic pigments has centered on the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and India, which have attracted producers by offering low production costs and robust supply chains encompassing everything from raw materials through to finished products. However, in recent years production cost increases, combined with tighter environmental regulations—and the more rigorous implementation thereof—have affected production in both countries, particularly by local companies.

As a leading supplier, as well as one of the world’s largest consumers, of organic pigments, DIC has production and procurement capabilities in both India and the PRC. However, as a company seeking to further the global expansion of its printing inks and organic pigments businesses, DIC recognizes that lowering its dependence on these two countries, thereby reducing business risk, is essential to stable growth. With this in mind, DIC took the decision to acquire the aforementioned businesses of Southeast Asia-based Monokem.

Renowned for its phthalocyanine pigments, the superb quality of which gives it a competitive edge worldwide, Monokem has a plant with a premises of approximately 79,000 square meters in an industrial part of Karawang, roughly 60 kilometers east of Jakarta. The company, which has more than 300 employees and a stellar global reputation as a Southeast Asia-based producer of phthalocyanine pigments, and of the principal raw material therein (phthalocyanine crude), also enjoys a long-standing business relationship with the DIC Group.

The DIC Group, one of the world’s top names in the area of organic pigments, is confident that this acquisition will further solidify its production infrastructure for phthalocyanine pigments, thus enhancing the stability of both its printing inks and organic pigments businesses going forward.

Monokem will continue to manufacture and sell zircon and ilmenite as its main businesses, which were not included in the acquisition.