Smart Molding International 3-2021

materials 48 smart_molding international 3/2021 A s announced in a press release published on August 29, 2019, DIC had reached an agreement with BASF regarding the acquisition of the BCE business, which involved relat - ed assets, including technologies, pat - ents and goodwill not included in the share purchase, as well as the shares of 18 individual companies. Since then, DIC Group (DIC Corporation and its 100% owned subsidiary Sun Chemical) and BASF have been working closely together to close this transaction. Ef - fective today, all related procedures have been finalized and the acquisition has been completed. In fiscal year 2019, DIC kicked off a newmedium-termmanagement plan, DIC111, which guides the Company’s aspirations to become a unique global company that is trusted by society by providing value via the promotion of initiatives in line with two key strate - gies. The first is “Value Transforma - tion,” which focuses on strengthening the Company’s corporate structure through qualitative reforms of busi - nesses, while the second is “New Pillar Creation,” which emphasizes creating new businesses in response to environ - ment, safety and health (ESH)–related issues, as well as to social changes. Based in Europe and with sites around the world, BCE, now a mem - ber of the DIC Group, has established itself as a prominent global manufac - turer of high-performance pigments, effect pigments (for cosmetics) and specialty inorganic pigments. The busi - ness portfolios—including the technol - ogies, products, production facilities, supply chains and customer service capabilities—of BCE and DIC Group harmonize well with each other, with little overlap. The acquisition brings together the complementary portfolio of technolo - gies, products, manufacturing assets, supply chain and customer service of the two companies to serve customers globally. “We’re excited to close our acquisi - tion of BCE and expand our product offering as one of the leading pigment suppliers globally” said Kaoru Ino, President and Chief Executive Officer of DIC. “BASF’s pigments portfolio is an important strategic addition in ex - peditiously meeting the goals we’ve outlined, which provide a clear growth path for DIC Group with the target to increase our sales to 1 trillion yen (ap - proximately €8 billion) by 2025.” The purchase will broaden DIC Group’s portfolio as a global manufac - turer of pigments, including those for electronic displays, cosmetics, coatings, DIC Group finalizes acquisition of BASF’s Global Pigments Business DIC Corporation has closed on the acquisition of BASF’s global pigments business, known as BASF Colors & Effects (BCE). The Company will reexamine its consolidated operating results forecasts in the near future and will promptly disclose any revisions. All pictures: DIC