The German specialty chemicals company Lanxess is selling its organic leather chemicals business to TFL Ledertechnik. The purchase price is made up from a fixed component of €80 million and a performance-related component of up to €115 million. In addition, TFL will assume certain liabilities associated with the business. Lanxess expects the transaction to close around mid-2021.
Lanxess manufactures the products in Leverkusen (Germany), Filago (Italy), and Changzhou (China). TFL will take over all operations of the organic leather chemicals business line and around 460 employees. In 2019, the business generated sales in the lower three-digit million euro range. With the sale, Lanxess is withdrawing completely from leather chemicals.
Lanxess also launched the bio-based prepolymer line Adiprene Green. The company claims that the products are suitable as replacement for existing fossil based polyether prepolymers to manufacture highly durable polyurethane (PU) elastomers.
Depending on the system, a reduction of CO2 between 20 to 30 percent is possible compared to fossil-based prepolymers due to the use of polyether polyols based on starch. The share of bio-based raw materials varies between 30 to 90 percent dependent on the targeted system hardness, the company added.
