Courtaulds Strategy and the Role of Fibres: Part 1 (1997)

From 1997 WORLDWIDE FIBRES CONFERENCE - Hotel Byblos, Malaga, 30/1/1997

Points to note:

• "Acrylics (1986) generated an enormous amount of cash... and was the reason we could develop Tencel... without that we would probably not have Tencel today"
• "Viscose (1989-91) poured in  an enormous amount of cash ... was a money printing machine ... it wiped out all the problems of acquiring businesses in the USA." (Ironic this: the new US businesses were bought to replace loss-making Fibres)

ln 1980 Courtaulds recorded an operating profit of break-even and a loss after
extraordinary items of £160m. lt was from that base that Courtaulds started to pull out from a horrendous position. The first part of the 1980s was trying to grind outmargin improvement. The only thing that mattered then was how much cash togenerate. We achieved it. People sold businesses, company names and did anything to hit the cash target. That started to take Courtaulds up. During the mid to second half of the 1980s Courtaulds had a very strong reputation for the quality of its management.

Then we demerged Textiles. The strategy was to drive for growth in businesses that were broadly management intensive rather than capital intensive. Our acquisitions in the US could have been damaging but for Viscose. A major competitor in viscose went out of business in the US. The combination of that and a fashion swing meant that Viscose poured in an enormous amount of cash from 1989 to 1991. To some extent we let that fool us and Viscose was a money printing machine. We were so successful it wiped out all the problems of acquiring businesses in the US.

Azko Nobel signs Acordis sale agreement (1999)

LONDON (CNI)--Dutch group Akzo Nobel said Thursday it has agreed the sale of its Acordis fibres business to a consortium led by CVC Capital partners for Euro825m ($851m).

Venture capital company CVC will have a 64% equity stake, with the Acordis management holding 15%. Akzo Nobel will acquire the remaining 21%.

Acordis, which will retain its existing management under chief executive Folkert Blaisse, also inherits from Akzo Nobel provisions of some Euro225m to meet various obligations including pension fund payments and environmental charges.

Akzo Nobel said Acordis would be a Dutch company and have a two-tier board structure with a supervisory board in which Akzo will have one of the five seats.

Cees van Lede, Akzo Nobel chairman, described completion of the sale negotiations as a major milestone for his group. "Akzo Nobel will enter the next century as a different company - focusing on the dynamics of growing our pharma, coatings and chemicals businesses."

Folkert Blaisse said Acordis will focus on building a solid stand-alone fibres company with high potential for the future.

In August, when the CVC offer was first announced, Blaisse said Acordis planned to achieve a return on sales of at least 8% in the next three to five years by restructuring and focusing on the high growth areas of industrial applications and specialty fibres. In the first quarter this year the return on sales was 1%.

CVC has publicly backed the Acordis management's strategy of growing organically and through add-on acquisitions in core markets. Earlier this year CVC completed the purchase of 75% of Dynoplast, the plastics business of Norway's Dyno Industrier and the acquisition from Shell of a 50% stake in Dutch plastic pipe manufacturer Wavin.

By: Neil Sinclair 18 November 1999 10:11 [Source: ICIS news]

Courtaulds Fibres Worldwide Conference Delegates List (1997)

89 delegates attended this conference at the Hotel Byblos, Malaga, Spain, 30/1-1/2/1997 to discuss Fibres strategy for the next 5 years.  Tencel was high on the agenda and sent the most delegates (24). More information from the meeting will be posted shortly.

1997 WORLDWIDE FIBRES CONFERENCE
DELEGATES
David Adkins	Tencel CFI	Alabama, USA
Jose Ambros	Acrylics	Barcelona, Spain
Sergio Ansaldi	Novaceta	Milan, ltaly
Egidio Apolloni	Novaceta	Milan, ltaly
Joaquim Bestit	Acrylics	Barcelona, Spain
Geoff Blackburn	Tencel Asia	Hong Kong
Simon Brearley	Viscose Europe	Grimsby
Eric Chan	Tencel Asia	Hong Kong
David Christian	Rayon	Alabama, USA
Josep Colobran	Acrylics	Barcelona, Spain
Hilda Coulsey	Fibres/Chemicals	Coventry, UK
John Cross	Acrylics	Kelheim, Germany
Dick Doidge-Harrison	Rayon	Alabama, USA
David Duthie	CFI Corporate	Alabama, USA
John Fagge	Acrylics	Grimsby, UK
Robert Feil	Tencel CFI	Alabama, USA
Mike Finlen	Tencel CFI	Alabama, USA
Ellen Flynn	Tencel CFI	New York, USA

Akzo Nobel Offers Premium For Courtaulds (1998)

This is a comprehensive story of the Exodus deal noting the exceptional shareholder value obtained by Gordon Campbell.

Akzo Nobel made an agreed-upon offer of 450 pence ($7.51) per share for Courtaulds on April 20, and analysts do not expect a counter bid.

The offer values Courtaulds at £1.83 billion ($3 billion), about 91 percent of its sales of £2.1 billion in the year until the end of March, and 11 times operating profit of £166 million.

The offer also represents a premium of 66 percent above the share price of 271.5 pence on February 24, when Courtaulds announced plans to split its coatings and sealants and fibers and chemicals operations into two separate entities, while selling off its polymer products business.

The offer is 25 percent above the share price of 361 pence at the end of March, shortly before Akzo Nobel revealed it was discussing a possible takeover with Courtaulds.

Courtaulds' board is recommending the offer to shareholders on the grounds that it is consistent with the strategy behind the company's original demerger plans.

"Our proposal to demerge the component parts of Courtaulds was designed to enhance shareholder value," says Courtaulds CEO Gordon Campbell. "This offer adds further value and certainty for Courtaulds' shareholders. For employees, the creation of stronger businesses in both the coatings and fibers industries can only be in their best interests."

Lenzing develops Tencel for Ultra Capacitors (2013)

Here's today's press release from Lenzing.  Readers of this blog will recall that development of the double-layer electrolytic capacitor market (now Ultra capacitors) for Tencel commenced in 1993 in a collaboration between Courtaulds Research and Nippon Kodoshi.  Then the dielectrics used Tencel, now a carbonised version appears to be used in the electrodes as well.  (See also http://www.tencel-lyocell.com/2012/12/innovation-product-development-with.html#more for 1993)

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Lenzing AG and NanoCarbons LLC, Fort Lauderdale (Florida, USA), will cooperate in the future to develop and explore the use of new activated carbons in electrode technology. This technology is based on a combination of Lenzing’s TENCEL® fibers and the technology provided by NanoCarbons LLC. After extensive research Lenzing constructed a new pilot production facility to take the technology forward.

The jointly developed carbons should deliver optimal performance in the area of energy storage. It is believed that these new carbons will accelerate the development of the already rapid growth in uses of electrical devices such as double layer capacitors (also known as ultra capacitors or super capacitors). These high performance capacitors are being increasingly used in hybrid vehicles as well as with stop-start systems, uninterruptable power supplies and wind turbine blade orientation.

“For Lenzing, the development of new, special applications in the technical segment comprises an important extension of the use of our fibers”, says Peter Untersperger, Chief Executive Officer of the Lenzing Group in commenting on the new partnership. “The strongly growing market for energy storage devices is a promising market niche for us. With our TENCEL® fibers we will certainly witness the development of a series of additional, highly interesting technical applications in the coming years.”

Friedrich Weninger, COO of the Lenzing Group with management responsibility for research and development, adds: “We are continuing to invest in new areas of research to increase the range and reach of our product portfolio, both in-house and through external cooperation. The new carbons optimally complement our existing business with separator materials for the energy storage devices. We strongly believe in the future growth of this market. We are offering our customers a sustainable product with consistent quality to allow the industry to develop further.”

Rud Istvan, CEO of NanoCarbons LLC, comments: “I strongly believe that this development will allow the double layer capacitor market to make a significant advancement. With the combination of Lenzing’s technical understanding and infrastructure and Nanocarbons’ technology, we can expect an acceleration in the market uses and exploitation of double layer capacitors, from new automotive stop-start systems to uninterruptable power supplies. This could be a breakthrough for electrode technology that will reap dividends for the designers of electrical components and the drivers of vehicles alike.”

For more information please contact:

Angelika Guldt
Head of Corporate Communications
Phone: +43 (0) 7672 701-2713
E-mail: a.guldt@lenzing.com