Liquid colorants supplier ColorMatrix Corp. has acquired Gayson Silicone Dispersions Inc. (Barberton, OH), a supplier of dispersions (colorants and additives) for silicone rubber. The company supplies processors who make products including automotive / aerospace parts, airbag coatings, healthcare, cosmetics, household and architectural products. 

ColorMatrix had not previously offered dispersions for silicone rubber. Gayson will retain its own name and management team. ColorMatrix (Berea, OH) employs more than 400.

Custom compounder has renamed its Asian business from Singapore Polymer Corp. (SPC) to Teknor Apex Asia Pacific Pte Ltd. Teknor Apex acquired SPC in 2001. The newly named company remains headquartered in Singapore. Managing it is Stanly Tan, who also is in charge of the compounder's operation in China, Teknor Apex Suzhou Advanced Polymer Compounds Co. Ltd. 

"Combining all of our operations under the Teknor Apex brand represents the culmination of a decade-long process of integration that has created one company in fact-not just in name," said Tan. "Whether our customers are based in Saudi Arabia, India, China, or Australia, they now have the assurance of dealing with a single organization having uniform standards, product designations, business practices, and regulatory approvals."
 
Meanwhile, plastics supplier Ticona (Sulzbach, Germany) announced it will nearly double output at its long fiber reinforced thermoplastic (LFRT) compounding plant in Nanjing, China. Ticona markets its LFRT compounds under the Celstran brand name. The Celstran LFRT unit in China came online in 2008 with an initial nameplate capacity of 5000 tonnes per year. Ticona expects to nearly double the unit's annual capacity by the end of the fourth quarter this year.

The company also compounds the material in the U.S. and in Germany. The automotive industry is the largest consumer of LFRT compounds. The Celstran LFRT facility is part of a multi-year investment by Ticona in China and throughout Asia.