Industry Notes - January 2004
Aussie Apparel Group Ltd. has changed its name to Bluetorch Inc. to reflect its new focus on the BluetorchT brand in the American marketplace.
Dow Chemical Co. announced plans of its subsidiary, Dow Chemical Ibrica, to build a commercial scale plant for the production of DOW XLA* elastic fiber at its facilities in Tarragona, Spain. Scheduled for start-up in the third quarter, the plant represents a first for Dow, which has been known primarily as a supplier of raw materials and specialty chemicals to the textile industry.
Koch Industries Inc. and its subsidiaries have reached an agreement with DuPont to purchase INVISTA, formerly DuPont Textiles & Interiors, for $4.4 billion in cash. The two subsidiaries are KED Fiber Ltd. and KED Fiber LLC. Closing is expected in the first half of this year, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. The purchase will include all of INVISTA's businesses, including apparel, interiors and industrial and intermediates. In addition, it includes INVISTA's portfolio of trademarks and brands including: Lycra, Stainmaster, Coolmax, Thermolite, Cordura, Supplex, Tactel, Antron, DBE and C12, to name a few, as well as more than 8,000 patents and significant proprietary intellectual property. Koch will integrate its KoSa business and its subsidiaries, global manufacturers of commodities and specialty polyester products, into INVISTA.
Thomas Thune Andersen, president and CEO, Maersk Inc., Madison, NJ, and Admiral James Loy, administrator, U.S. Transportation Security Administration, Washington, DC, were honored with lifetime achievement awards at the second annual Maritime Security Expo and Conference USA. The awards were presented by the Hudson Institute, U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Homeland Securities Industries Association and E.J. Krause & Associates based on the honorees' outstanding service and contributions toward global maritime security.
Rosenthal & Rosenthal Inc., a privately held factoring and asset-based lending company, has opened a new office in Woodland Hills, CA, to provide local support to its expanding West Coast client base of textile and apparel manufacturers. The company's Los Angeles office will be led by Harry Friedman, who joins the firm as a senior vice president. R&R specializes in providing factoring and related financial services for textile and apparel manufacturers as well as to firms in industries such as electronics, home furnishings, toys and hardware.
The WorldWide Retail Exchange (WWRE) announced a collaborative initiative with UDEX, a global provider of data normalization services, to enable the sharing of product information between WWRE members and UDEX's extensive list of supply side trading partners. This connectivity will make the WWRE an international source and recipient data pool to provide retailers with access to UDEX supplier data on behalf of its members.
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