Albemarle Corporation

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Albemarle Corporation is chemical company with corporate headquarters in Richmond, Virginia and operation headquarters in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is a globally recognized specialty chemical manufacturing enterprise.

[edit] History

In 1962 Albemarle Paper Manufacturing Company, founded in Virginia in 1887, borrowed $200 million and purchased Ethyl Corporation a company more than thirteen times its size. In 1994, Ethyl spun off its chemical businesses to create an independent, publicly traded company named Albemarle Corporation.

[edit] Timeline

1887 - Albemarle Paper Manufacturing Company opens with a handful of employees producing Kraft and blotting paper.

1921 - The antiknock properties of tetraethyl lead (TEL) as a gasoline additive are discovered after a lengthy search by a team of General Motors research chemists. TEL is to be the principal product of Ethyl Corporation for more than 40 years.

1937 - TEL production begins in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for Ethyl Gasoline Corporation.

1942 - Ethyl Gasoline Corporation changes its name to Ethyl Corporation to characterize a broader interest than just gasoline products.

1953 - Ethyl acquires an Orangeburg, South Carolina specialty chemical plant from Wannamaker Chemical Company.

1957 - MMT, a manganese-based antiknock, is first marketed by Ethyl.

1962 - Albemarle Paper Manufacturing Company borrows $200 million and purchases Ethyl Corporation (Delaware), a corporation 13 times its size, and Ethyl Corporation (Virginia) is formed.

1964 - Ethyl S.A. is formed in Europe to serve expanding foreign markets.

1969 - Certain Albemarle Paper assets are sold to a group of employees, who form James River Corporation. Bromine operations begin in Magnolia, Arkansas.

1975 - Ethyl acquires Edwin Cooper, a world-wide supplier of lubricant additives.

1976 - Ethyl leaves paper manufacturing with the sale of Oxford Paper. Ethyl opens a chemical plant in Feluy, Belgium to make aluminum alkyls.

1986 - Ethyl announces an agreement to purchase Dow Chemical’s bromine division.

1987 - Ethyl acquires Dow Chemical's bromine chemicals business and its Magnolia, Arkansas, plant.

1989 - Ethyl acquires Russ Pharmaceuticals, Inc. of Birmingham, Alabama.

1993 - Ethyl acquires Potasse et Produits Chimiques (PPC), a major bromine derivative manufacturer, located in Thann, France.

1994 - Ethyl spins off its chemical businesses to create an independent, publicly traded company named Albemarle Corporation.

1995 - Albemarle acquires Asano Corporation, a sales and marketing company headquartered in Tokyo.

1995 - Albemarle sells its electronic materials business to MEMC.

1996 - Albemarle sells its alpha olefins, polyalphaolefins and synthetic alcohols businesses to Amoco for about $500 million.

1997 - Albemarle increases its Asia Pacific presence through an alliance with Mitsui Toatsu Chemicals, Inc., acquiring 50 percent of the outstanding stock of Nippon Aluminum Alkyls, Ltd.

1997 - Albemarle restructures into two global business units: Polymer Chemicals and Fine Chemicals. Marketing Excellence Team created.

1998 - Albemarle Holdings Company Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Albemarle Corporation, signs a joint venture agreement with Jordan Dead Sea Industries Company (JODICO) and Arab Potash Company (APC) to manufacture and market bromine and bromine derivatives from a world-scale complex to be built in Jordan, near the Dead Sea.

1998 - Albemarle acquires a custom manufacturing and oilfield chemicals plant in Teesport, England, complementing Albemarle's clear completion fluids, amines and quats product lines, and providing logistical support to oilfield customers by serving as a staging site for European sales.

2000 - Albemarle and Jinhai Chemical and Industry Company, a Chinese company, announce the establishment of a Sino-foreign joint venture company for the manufacture, sale and export of specialty polymer stabilizers, flame retardants and selected fine chemicals named Ningbo Jinhai Albemarle Chemical and Industry Company, Limited.

2000 - Albemarle announces that the purchase of certain assets of Ferro Corporation's PYRO-CHEK® flame retardant business, along with a plant at Port-de-Bouc, France.

2000 - Albemarle, Cytec Industries Inc. (NYSE:CYT), and GE Specialty Chemicals, Inc., a subsidiary of General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), announce their intention to form a new business-to-business internet joint venture, PolymerAdditives.com, LLC to provide a faster, more efficient way to buy complementary brand-name products and services directly from trusted suppliers.

2001 - Albemarle acquires Martinswerk GmbH, its manufacturing facilities and headquarters in Bergheim, Germany, and Martinswerk's 50% stake in Austrian joint venture Magnifin Magnesia Produkte GmbH. The deal complements Albemarle's polymer chemicals business with non-halogen, mineral-based flame retardants for the plastics and rubber markets, and adds brightening pigments for high-quality paper applications and specialty aluminum oxides for polishing, catalyst and niche ceramic applications.

2001 - Albemarle announces the completion of its acquisition of the custom and fine chemicals businesses of ChemFirst Inc. for $74 million, plus approximately $5 million to reflect changes in the working capital actually transferred versus assumed working capital at December 31, 2000. The Asset Purchase Agreement also provides for additional contingent payments to ChemFirst not expected to exceed $10 million. Albemarle's new businesses focus on the manufacture of custom and proprietary fine chemicals and chemical services for the pharmaceutical and life sciences industries.

2003 - Albemarle acquires Ethyl Corporation's fuel and lubricant antioxidants business. The acquisition includes the family of antioxidants and blends used to extend the storage life and thermal stability of a broad range of fuel and lubricant products. The agreement also includes patents and other intellectual property related to the antioxidant chemistries.

2003 - Albemarle completes the acquisition of the phosphorus-based polyurethane flame retardants businesses of Rhodia. These products are used in rigid and flexible polyurethane foam applications. Albemarle also acquires Rhodia's ammonium polyphosphate product range, which has applications in textiles, timber and coatings. In this transaction, the company acquires a production site in Avonmouth, United Kingdom, and will be supplied with flame retardants and intermediates manufactured at Rhodia's sites in Charleston, S.C., and in Oldbury and Widnes in the United Kingdom.

2003 - Albemarle and Atofina S.A. (Paris) announce the completion of Albemarle's acquisition of Atofina's bromine fine chemicals business. The business had annual revenues of over $20 million. The transaction includes the transfer to Albemarle of Atofina's production site in Port de Bouc, France, and Atofina agrees to supply Albemarle with additional fine chemicals under a long-term agreement.

2004 - Albemarle acquires the business assets, customer lists and other tangibles of Taerim International Corporation (Taerim) and forms Albemarle Korea Corporation. Taerim was Albemarle's Korean distributor and representative for twelve years, and developed a substantial flame retardant chemical business. The acquisition significantly increases the company's presence in Korea and adds to the customer base via Taerim's stock sales business.

2004 - Albemarle Corporation acquires the refinery catalyst business of Akzo Nobel N.V. With this acquisition, Albemarle becomes one of the world's largest producers of hydro processing catalysts (HPC) and fluidized catalytic cracking (FCC) catalysts used in the petroleum refining industry.

[edit] External links