Korean DC Chemical aims to buy Columbian Chemical

Seoul, Korea -- DC Chemical Co. a Korean chemical company, previously known as Korea Steel Chemical Company Limited, has told the Korean stock exchange that it intends to buy carbon black maker, Columbian Chemical Co., a subsidiary of mining giant, Phelps Dodge.

DCC has two plants making carbon black in S Korea, each with a nominal capacity of 100 kt/year, and the products are sold under the trade name Dash Black.

Columbian is the third-largest carbon black maker in the world, after Cabot and Degussa. Columbian has 12 plants around the world with total nominal capacity around 1100 kt/year. Together, the two companies would have about 1300 kt/year of capacity, still a long way behind Cabot, with some 1800 kt/year, but ahead of Degussa.

In the filing, DC said it intends to set up a company called Columbian Chemicals Holdings LLC to acquire all the shares in Columbian (100 percent) currently owned by Phelps Dodge. The new company will be jointly owned by DCC and a fund owned by JP Morgan Chase & Co. The equity will be split 2:1, with DCC owning the two-thirds controlling share.