July 18, 2016 Updated 7/18/2016
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MSM Poly LLC is one step closer to buying intellectual property rights for Barex-brand resin.
Wilmington, Del-based MSM and Ineos Barex AG of Rolle, Switzerland, recently signed a memorandum of understanding for the potential sale. The non-binding agreement would allow for MSM to purchase all existing IP from Ineos as well as specific physical assets, commercial/operational support and a supply of Barex resin.
The agreement “allows both groups to move forward in the process while providing some assurance to current Barex users that the brand could be made available post the exit of Ineos,” Ineos Barex CEO Paul Overment said in a July 15 news release.
No further details have been released. Both parties are working towards completion of the transaction sometime in the third quarter of 2016.
Ineos in October 2014 announced it would end production of Barex — a polyacrylonitrile (PAN) resin — at its only global plant in Lima, Ohio. Ineos has continued to operate the Barex unit in an effort to meet guaranteed production volume for contracted customers.
It’s now expected that production period will conclude in the third quarter, followed by dismantling of the physical assets. Ineos operates two additional businesses at the Lima, Ohio, manufacturing site both of which are unaffected by this closure.
Several materials makers rushed to fill the void left by Barex, which was known as a high-performance material in pharmaceutical and food packaging films. Several Barex customers in the pharmaceutical packaging market contacted Montesino Associates LLC — a Wilmington-based consulting firm — about finding a replacement material.
Michael Marcotte/Plastics News Peter Schmitt, managing director at Montesino Associates LLC, speaks about film and sheet pricing at the Plastics Financial Summit.
Montesino Managing Director Peter Schmitt then contacted plastics industry veteran Patrick Mickle about finding a Barex replacement. Mickle agreed that there was a continuing need for Barex — a decision that led to the formation of MSM Poly. The AMAC material is being toll-produced for MSM Poly by Tiarco Chemical at a plant in Greenville, S.C.
In February, flexible packaging giant Bemis Co. Inc. said it was considering MSM’s Anobex-brand specialty resin — an acrylonitrile methyl acrylate copolymer (AMAC) – as a potential replacement for Barex in high-barrier laminates.
