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Mitsui Chemicals to acquire Asahi Kasei’s Sunvieo TPS business

| By Mary Bailey

Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. (Tokyo; www.mitsuichem.com) announced that it plans to acquire Asahi Kasei Corp.’s business for Sunvieo thermoplastic styrene elastomer (TPS) on Dec. 1, 2017.

Used primarily in the automotive industry, thermoplastic elastomers are being met with growing global demand as a replacement for polyvinyl chloride and vulcanized rubber. Mitsui Chemicals has so far supplied its Milastomer thermoplastic elastomer for a growing range of automotive applications.

The company’s thermoplastic vulcanizate elastomer (TPV) has seen use in automotive interior skin, weather strips, steering gear boots and more. Meanwhile, its thermoplastic olefin elastomer (TPO) has been used for parts such as airbag covers.

In acquiring Asahi Kasei’s Sunvieo business, Mitsui Chemicals will add TPS to its lineup. This will allow the company to respond to a wider range of needs across numerous areas, including automotive parts and consumer products. Mitsui Chemicals also expects that it will be able to use the acquired technology to further differentiate its existing Milastomer lineup from the competition.