Chemical Specialties – FoamPartner and
Schmid Rhyner
Polyurethane foams and print finishing.
Work was also carried out to develop the range of innovative products in the “Coatings” market segment of Schmid Rhyner. For example, suitable “low migration” digital UV coatings were developed and made ready for market, and an environmentally compatible coating was developed as a substitute for film-laminated cardboard, and new tactile effects were introduced to replace “Cast & Cure”. The assessment of options for realizing value potential more quickly, which was announced by the Group in August 2019, quickly led in Schmid Rhyner’s case due to the lack of a critical mass to an evaluation of suitable buyers. A binding agreement for a sale was entered into at the end of December 2019 with the German specialty chemicals’ group Altana, subject to regulatory approval. Altana enjoys far better global market access and will be able to proceed with commercializing the technologies available at Schmid Rhyner significantly more quickly and with greater prospects of success. In FoamPartner’s case as well, the review of options to accelerate the development of the existing potentials revealed value-enhancing opportunities from the expected consolidation of the market. These will be assessed during the course of 2020 with a view to a sale.