Synthos to be holding company for Dwory, Kaucuk Kralupy

By David Shaw, ERJ staff

Düsseldorf, Germany - Following the acquisition of Kaucuk Kalupy by the Dwory group, the two companies are restructuring their activities. The sales and manufacturing activities of each company will be separated into individual companies called Synthos Kralupy as and Synthos Dwory SP. zoo. These two operations will be owned and managed by the holding company, Synthos SA.

Sim Elman, commercial director of the holding company Synthos SA speaking at the K fair in Düsseldorf said the new arrangements have only been in place since mid-October and while the company has informed the relevant stock markets of the new structure, the K show is the first opportunity to tell the wider industry.

Synthos Kralupy has capacity of around 85 kt/year for emulsion-SBR in Kralupy, Czech Republic. The products are  sold under the name of Kralex. Kralupy also makes some plastics and monomers. 

Synthos Dwory has capacity of around 116 kt/year for emulsion-SBR at the factory just outside Oswiecim, Poland. The material is sold under the trade name KER.  This was the factory made famous by Primo Levi in his autobiography of his years in the Auschwitz (Polish name: Oswiecim) concentration camp. The same plant also has very limited capacity (around 4kt/year) for NBR nitrile rubber.

Earlier this month Dwory signed a licence agreement with Michelin to make neodymium-catalysed polybutadiene rubber. Dwory will build a plant due on stream in 2011 and will supply Michelin with the material under a long-term contract. (see separate story)