Cabot acquires carbon black plant in China

Cabot Corporation announced that it has acquired NSCC Carbon (Jiangsu) Co., Ltd. from Nippon Steel Carbon Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Nippon Steel Chemical & Material Co., Ltd. The carbon black manufacturing facility in Pizhou, Jiangsu Province, China, was originally commissioned in 2015.

According to Cabot, the company has been actively exploring and implementing opportunities to increase capacity in its global carbon black network through plant expansions, operational improvements and debottlenecking projects. This bolt-on acquisition will further support its growth objectives and broaden its capabilities to serve customers in China. The 50,000 t/y will support Cabot’s speciality carbons product line within the Performance Chemicals segment.

The plant is scheduled to be temporarily mothballed to conduct maintenance and technology upgrades. The upgrades to manufacturing and environmental equipment will enable the site to be more flexible to manufacture different carbon black products and meet ever-stricter environmental standards, said Cabot.

The purchase price, which is payable upon satisfaction of certain conditions, and the equipment and technology upgrades are expected to amount to approximately USD 50 million over the next two years.

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