Arkema today announced the proposed acquisition by its subsidiary CECA of the "Activated Carbon and Regeneration" business of SNF Italia, a subsidiary of the SNF FLOERGER group. This activity, based in Italy, achieves annual sales of the order of €4 M in the European environment market.

"This acquisition is an excellent opportunity for CECA to consolidate its leading ranking in Southern Europe in the Activated Carbon business for the environment, in particular the treatment of water and air", states Christophe Villain, Managing Director of CECA. "With the transfer of the commercial activity of SNF to the CECA Legnago plant near Verona, the largest in Southern Europe, this operation represents genuine added value for our activated carbon, marketed under the tradename Acticarbone®."

This acquisition will strengthen CECA’s expertise and supply in activated carbon regeneration. Activated carbon regeneration consists of a high temperature process which destroys the organic pollutants trapped as part of the treatment of the air or water. The process restores the initial effectiveness of the activated carbon without producing waste. Regeneration is therefore an innovative and ecological solution, which is also cost-effective for industrialists in the treatment of air and water; this was the route chosen recently by the municipality of Venice.

CECA’s activated carbon is obtained from vegetable material, i.e. various ligneous sources including pinewood and coconut. They are part of the Arkema product range derived from renewable raw materials labelled "Arkema Renewables".

The projet is subject to the approval of the competition authorities in the countries concerned.

CECA [www.ceca.fr], a subsidiary of the ARKEMA Group, is a world player in Specialty Chemicals. CECA constantly strives to improve its customers’ performance by creating and developing adsorbents, chemical intermediates, and additives. CECA operates an extensive network of industrial facilities in Europe, together with two research centres (GRL and CRRA) dedicated to Customer innovation.

A global chemical player, Arkema consists of 3 coherent and related business segments: Vinyl Products, Industrial Chemicals, and Performance Products. Present in over 40 countries with 15,200 employees, Arkema achieves sales of 5.7 billion euros. With its 6 research centers in France, the United States and Japan, and internationally recognized brands, Arkema holds leadership positions in its principal markets.