US Salt Group Purchases DCV's Propionates and Acetates Business

The US Salt Group (Jacksonville, FL) has acquired the propionates and acetates businesses of DCV Inc. (Wilmington, DE), positioning US Salt in the forefront of the worldwide marketplace for these chemicals. Sodium propionate is widely used as a food preservative; pharmaceutical developers use acetate as the counterion for large ionic drugs, for example 3M Pharmaceuticals' pirbuterol acetate inhalation drug for asthma.

Acquiring DCV's organic salt businesses augments US Salt's strategic position in this arena, according to US Salt VP Jai Singh. "Our Verdugt b.v. subsidiary (Tiel, Netherlands) is the world's major producer of propionate and acetate salts," Singh stated. DCV's organic salt businesses will be merged into Verdugt, strengthening that company's position even more. "The acquisition also fits nicely with our US Salt LLC subsidiary, which supplies the food industry with calcium propionate preservatives used in bakeries."

US Salt Holdings' US Salt LLC (Watkins Glenn, NY) subsidiary, which will manage these businesses, has been designated as Verdugt's exclusive agent and representative in North America. In the next 90 days, Verdugt and US Salt plan to transfer all customer service and administrative functions for the new business to the U.S. facilities, but exisiting propionate and acetate customers should continue to place orders through their present DCV channels.

In a separate agreement, US Salt also announced that it has entered into a long-term tolling relationship with DCV to continue manufacturing calcium propionate, sodium propionate, and calcium acetate at DCV's plant in Verona, MD.

Mark Demetree, who serves as chairman and CEO for both US Salt and Verdugt, described the acquisition as "another step in our efforts to build a worldwide industrial salts business serving the food, agricultural and pharmaceutical industries. The acquisition further rounds out the portfolio of products that we can provide our food customers in North America."

Verdugt manufactures a wide range of propionates, acetates, formates, benzoates, and lactates. Verdugt primarily serves the food, agricultural, and pharmaceutical industries. US Salt operates a sodium chloride refinery located in Watkins Glen and is a leading manufacturer of salt products for the food grade, water conditioning, agricultural, and pharmaceutical markets.

Backed by institutional investors and managed by chemical industry veterans, US Salt Holdings is a holding company in controlled, strategic growth mode. Summarizing his firm's business strategy, Singh told Pharmaceutical Online, "We seek out chemical businesses to acquire and run, particularly those businesses that have not been central to the strategic directions of their current owners." US Salt's three businesses units follow that trend: Repauno Products (Gibbstown, NJ), which specializes in sodium nitrite, had been owned by DuPont; Verdugt was formerly part of BP Amoco; US Salt LLC had been part of Cargill and formerly Akzo.

For more information: Jai Singh, Vice President, US Salt, 3740 Beach Blvd., Jacksonville, FL 32207. Tel: 904-306-2005. Fax: 904-306-2001.

By Angelo DePalma