Speciality chemicals manufacturer Innospec has announced it is to purchase the personal care and home care arm of Huntsman Corp.

The deal is thought to expand Innospec’s product line for foaming surfactants for the rinse-off segment as well as bringing complementary technologies for leave-on skincare and suncare.

Hunstman Corp is based in Belgium with manufacturing sites in France, Italy and Spain, employing around 430 people.

Samantha Thistleton, Marketing Manager of Innospec Performance Chemicals said, “Our renowned expertise and product development in sulfate-free surfactants has served us well as a growth strategy, however, we were always aware that in order to fulfil our vision to ‘take up more space in the bottle’ of cosmetics and toiletries we must meet a wider range of customer needs.
“This proposed acquisition would give us an excellent opportunity to strengthen our position in EMEA and to better serve our customers with a much broader portfolio for personal care and home care products.”

While the acquisition needs to go through a period of consultation with employee representative bodies, both parties are positive about the deal.

Bruce McDonald, President of Performance Chemicals at Innospec added “The Huntsman business has a well-established presence in Europe and the range of technologies is very complementary to the existing Innospec range. Together, we would compete in a much larger part of the sector. With substantial assets in Europe from which to manufacture our existing and future products, the acquisition would form a springboard to continue Innospec’s successful development of innovative technologies.”