Post by Natasha Klymczuk

The final snapshot of 2025 for specialty chemicals. A year ending with portfolio reshaping, leadership transitions, restructuring milestones, and targeted growth investments. 🟣 Deals and M&A - CABB Group signed a definitive agreement with Anupam Rasayan India Ltd for the sale of Jayhawk Fine Chemicals. - Hexion Inc. completed the sale of its La Grande, Oregon manufacturing site to long-standing customer Kronospan. - Brenntag signed an agreement to acquire Airedale Group, a UK-based chemicals distributor and value-added service provider. - BASF agreed to sell its optical brightening agents business within Care Chemicals to Catexel, with closing expected in Q1 2026. - Stepan Company agreed to sell its Lake Providence, Louisiana manufacturing assets to an unnamed buyer and completed the sale of Stepan Philippines Quaternaries to Masurf. - Borealis announced it will acquire a 10% direct stake in BlueAlp as part of a strategic partnership to advance chemical recycling technologies. 🟣 Investments & Financing - Alzchem Group AG approved an approximately €120m investment to expand and automate its creatine and precursor production capacity. - SK Capital Partners announced an investment in Swixx BioPharma. - Ascend Performance Materials reached a major milestone as the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas confirmed its Plan of Reorganisation. 🟣 Leadership Changes - IMCD Group announced that its Supervisory Board has nominated Floris Lagerwerf to become Chief Financial Officer as of January 2027, succeeding Hans Kooijmans. - IMCD also appointed Clara Fabre as Business Group Director, Lubricants & Energy, effective January 1, 2026, and named Christoph Garbotz as Managing Director for Germany. - Ascend Performance Materials appointed Patrick Schumacher as Chief Executive Officer, effective December 11. - J.M. Huber Corporation confirmed Glenn Fish has officially stepped into the role of President & CEO. - Youri Deblanc has been appointed as CEO at EOC Group. 🟣 Products & Innovation - SABIC announced further expansion of PPE oligomer capacity, supporting advanced AI and 5G data-center PCB applications. 🟣 Site Expansions & Closures - Alzchem Group AG: major expansion and automation of its creatine value chain production footprint. - BASF and employee representatives agreed a new Ludwigshafen Verbund site agreement, combining redundancies and approx €2bn per year of investment running to 2030. If I've missed anything, let me know in the comments👇