ELANTAS Strengthens Its Activities in Technologies of the Future

ELANTAS, a division of the specialty chemicals Group ALTANA, announced at the productronica 2009 trade fair in Munich that it had made two acquisitions in this market segment in the preceding weeks. In the future, ELANTAS is going to strongly focus its research activities in this area, which offers an excellent growth potential due to the increasing electronization and automation of all areas of life. Electronic & Engineering Materials refer to applications that embed or encapsulate electrical components, such as complete circuits or circuit boards, with insulating resins to protect them from all kinds of environmental influences.

In September 2009, ELANTAS acquired the business of epoxy and polyurethane systems for casting, potting and encapsulating from the Indian company Shimo Resins Private Limited. This company achieved in 2008 sales of about €2 million and has been active in regional markets of India and South Asia.

A few days ago, ELANTAS acquired certain assets of the formulated products business of Quadrant Chemical Corp., an American business. The acquired business posted sales of U.S. $4.7 million in 2008. The formulated products business of Quadrant Chemical supplies OEM companies in the automotive, aerospace, electrical/electronics, and transportation markets around the globe with emphasis on the NAFTA and European markets.

“Through these acquisitions, which we will integrate into our existing activities by way of asset deals, we are expanding our strategic positioning“, stated Dr. Wolfgang Schütt, president Division ELANTAS. “Alongside our traditional business lines primary and secondary insulation, we will increasingly turn our attention to the market segment electronic and engineering materials, since this segment still holds a significant growth potential. In this respect, the two acquisitions make an important contribution; they improve our global market position and will be smoothly integrated into our existing activities.”

Schütt emphasized that the area of R&D at ELANTAS was going to be given increased importance and influence in the future. “Only innovative strong companies are able to offer future-oriented solutions to their customers in the traditional, but, above all, also in the new business fields.” As an example, Schütt referred to the area of printed electronics, these are printed circuits that could be used, among others, for RFID tags in the future.