Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB) is a chemical company with corporate headquarters in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is a globally recognized specialty chemical manufacturing enterprise.
Albemarle Corporation (Albemarle), incorporated in 1993, is a global developer, manufacturer and marketer of engineered specialty chemicals for consumer electronics, petroleum refining, utilities, packaging, construction, automotive/transportation, pharmaceuticals, crop protection, food-safety and custom chemistry services. The Company operates in three segments: Polymer Solutions, Catalysts and Fine Chemicals. As of December 31, 2010, the Company and its joint ventures operated 45 facilities in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Albemarle serves approximately 3,000 customers in over 100 countries. In August 2010, the Company sold its Teesport, the United Kingdom facility to Kemira Oyj. On September 13, 2010, it purchased some property and equipment in Yeosu, South Korea.
Polymer Solutions
Albemarle’s Polymer Solutions segment consists of two product market categories: flame retardants and stabilizers and curatives. Flame Retardants, its fire safety technology, enables the use of plastics in heat applications by enhancing the flame resistant properties of these materials. End market for this products include consumer electronics, printed circuit boards, wire and cable, electrical connectors, textiles, foam insulation, and foam seating in furniture and automobiles. Its brominated flame retardants include Saytex; its mineral-based flame retardants include Martinal and Magnifin, and its phosphorus-based flame retardants include Antiblaze and Ncendx.
The Company produces plastic and other additives, such as curatives, antioxidants and stabilizers. Its additives products include curatives for polyurethane, polyurea and epoxy system polymerization. This business also produces antioxidants and stabilizers. Its Ethacure curatives are used in cast elastomers, coatings, reaction injection molding (RIM) and specialty adhesives that are incorporated into products, such as wheels, tires and rollers. Its line of Ethanox antioxidants is used by manufacturers of polyolefins to maintain physical properties during the manufacturing process, including the color of the final product. These antioxidants are found in applications, such as slit film, wire and cable, food packaging and pipes.
Albemarle also produces antioxidants used in fuels and lubricants. Its line of Ethanox fuel and lubricant antioxidants are used by refiners and fuel marketers to extend fuel storage life and protect fuel systems, and by oil marketers and lubricant manufacturers to extend the useful life of lubricating oils, fluids and greases used in engines and various types of machinery. The Company’s Polymer Solutions segment offers more than 70 products to a range of end-markets. It sells its products to chemical manufacturers and processors, such as polymer resin suppliers, lubricant manufacturers, refiners and other specialty chemical companies. It has sales and marketing network in China, Japan, Korea and Singapore with products sourced from the United States, Europe, China and the Middle East.
The Company competes with Israel Chemicals, Jiangsu Yoke Technology Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Wansheng Chemical Co., Ltd., .M. Huber Corporation, Kyowa Chemical Industry Co., Ltd., Nabaltec GmbH, BASF Corporation, Chemtura Corporation and Songwon Industrial Co., Ltd.
Catalysts
Albemarle’s Catalysts segment includes its refinery catalysts and polyolefin catalysts businesses. Its two refinery catalysts product lines include hydroprocessing catalysts (HPC) and fluidized catalytic cracking (FCC), catalysts and additives. In renewable, non-crude-based fuels, it has also launched new catalysts for customers. HPC catalysts are primarily used to reduce the quantity of sulfur and other impurities in petroleum products, as well as to convert heavy feedstock into lighter products. FCC catalysts assist in the cracking of petroleum streams into derivative, products, such as fuels and petrochemical feedstock. Its FCC additives are used to remove sulfur in gasoline and to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide in FCC units. The Company offers more than 90 different HPC catalysts products and more than 70 different FCC catalysts and additives products to its customers.
Polyolefin Catalysts manufactures aluminum- and magnesium-alkyls, which are used as co-catalysts in the production of polyolefins, elastomers, alpha olefins, such as hexene, octene and decene, and organotin heat stabilizers, which are used in the preparation of organic intermediates. It also produces metallocene/single-site catalysts, which aid in the development and production of new polymers. The Company’s Catalysts segment’s customers include ExxonMobil Corporation, Royal Dutch Shell plc, Chevron Corporation, Valero Energy Corporation, Tesoro Petroleum Corporation, Saudi Aramco Mobil Refinery Company Ltd., Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. and Petroleos Mexicanos.
The Company competes with Criterion Catalysts and Technologies, W.R. Grace & Co./Advanced Refining Technologies, Haldor Topsoe, W.R. Grace & Co., BASF Corporation, Akzo Nobel N.V., Chemtura Corporation, Tosoh Corporation and W.R. Grace & Co.
Fine Chemistry
Albemarle’s Fine Chemistry segment consists of two categories: performance chemicals and fine chemistry services and intermediates. Performance chemicals include elemental bromine, alkyl bromides, inorganic bromides, brominated powdered activated carbon and a number of bromine fine chemicals. Its products are used in chemical synthesis, oil and gas well drilling and completion fluids, mercury control, paper manufacturing, water purification, beef and poultry processing and various other industrial applications. Other performance chemicals that it produces include tertiary amines for surfactants, biocides, disinfectants and sanitizers; potassium-based products used in industrial applications; alkenyl succinic anhydride used in paper-sizing formulations, and aluminum oxides used in a range of refractory, ceramic and polishing applications. It sells these products to customers worldwide for use in personal care products, automotive insulation, foundry bricks and other industrial products.
In addition to supplying the fine chemistry products and performance chemicals for the pharmaceutical and agricultural uses, the Company’s fine chemistry services business offers custom manufacturing, research and chemical scale-up services for companies. Its Ibuprofen is used to provide temporary pain relief and fever reduction. The Company also produces a range of intermediates used in the manufacture of a variety of over-the-counter and prescription drugs. Its agrichemicals are sold to agrichemical manufacturers and distributors that produce and distribute finished agricultural herbicides, insecticides, fungicides and soil fumigants. The Company’s products include orthoalkylated anilines used in the acetanilide family of pre-emergent herbicides used with corn, soybeans and other crops and methyl bromide, which is used as a soil fumigant. It also manufactures and supplies a range of chemical intermediates for the agricultural industry.
Albemarle’s Fine Chemistry segment manufactures more than 100 products, which are used in a range of end-markets. Sales of products and services are to chemical manufacturers and processors, including pharmaceutical, agricultural, drilling and oil services, water treatment and photographic companies, and to other specialty chemical companies.
The Company competes with Chemtura Corporation, Israel Chemicals, BASF Corporation, Lonza, Clariant Ltd. and Cilag AG.
During the late 1950s, the development of new materials such as polyethylene film posed a threat to paper makers such as Gottwald's Albemarle. Gottwald had orchestrated the expansion of Albemarle during his tenure, guiding the company toward an emphasis on converting its paper production into finished products, but the emergence of new materials asked new questions of paper makers. The threat demanded one of two responses: either embrace new technological advancements or dismiss the advancements as justification for investment. Gottwald chose to bank the future health of Albemarle on the development of novel materials and began looking for a partner to help him stay on the vanguard of technology. During his search for assistance in producing polyethylene, Gottwald discovered Ethyl. Gottwald's discovery and his desire to obtain Ethyl made business history. Gottwald became the figure behind the largest leveraged buyout ever completed at the time. It was a deal that newspaper headlines described as "Jonah Swallows the Whale," according to Ethyl's web site-published history.
The marriage of Albemarle and Ethyl occurred in 1962. Gottwald borrowed $200 million and acquired a company 13 times larger than Albemarle, creating a new, Virginia-registered concern named Ethyl Corporation that embodied the assets of the Delaware-registered Ethyl Corporation and Albemarle Paper Manufacturing Company. Gottwald was appointed chairman of the new company he had created. Under his leadership, the company expanded. In 1964, Ethyl S.A. was formed as a European subsidiary to ease the company's entry into foreign markets. In 1968, Gottwald's son, Floyd D. Gottwald, Jr., replaced his father as chairman and continued to spearhead Ethyl's diversification and expansion.
Under Floyd Gottwald, Jr., Ethyl developed into a multifaceted concern, directing its growth in four directions. The company followed the general corporate trend that emerged during the late 1960s. Industrial concerns of all types diversified their operations in a new era of holding companies and sprawling conglomerates, assembling a number of different, sometimes eclectic, business interests. Ethyl chose to concentrate on four business areas: chemicals, plastics, aluminum, and energy. Conspicuous by its absence was the company's original business, paper manufacturing. In 1969, a portion of the company's paper making properties was sold to a group of employees who used the assets as the foundation for a new company, James River Corporation. In 1976, after nearly 90 years in the business, the company exited paper manufacture entirely when it divested Oxford Paper.
In paper's place, Ethyl built a presence in its four business groups. In 1968, when Floyd Gottwald, Jr., took the helm as chairman, the company strengthened its interests in plastics by acquiring IMCO Container Company. In 1975, the company purchased a global supplier of lubricant additives named Edwin Cooper, adding to its chemicals portfolio. During the 1980s, Ethyl continued to build on four foundations, making two important acquisitions. In 1986, the company announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire the bromine chemicals business belonging to Dow Chemical, an agreement of significant importance to the future of Albemarle. (Bromine is a nonmetallic liquid element used in producing gasoline antiknock mixtures, fumigants, dyes, and photographic chemicals.) The acquisition, completed in 1987, included Dow Chemical's plant in Magnolia, Arkansas, where bromine production had begun in 1969. The addition of bromine production capabilities, which became a central component of Albemarle's flame retardant business, was followed in 1989 by the acquisition of Russ Pharmaceuticals, Inc., based in Birmingham, Alabama.
OVERALL
Beta: 1.47
Market Cap (Mil.): $6,299.20
Shares Outstanding (Mil.): 91.65
Annual Dividend: 0.66
Yield (%): 0.96
FINANCIALS
ALB Industry Sector
P/E (TTM): 17.28 16.66 25.53
EPS (TTM): 69.53 -- --
ROI: 13.67 26.84 17.76
ROE: 26.25 25.99 17.73
Statistics:
Public Company
Incorporated: 1994
Employees: 3,000
Sales: $980.20 million (2002)
Stock Exchanges: New York
Ticker Symbol: ALB
NAIC: 325211 Plastics Material and Resin Manufacturing; 325188 All Other Inorganic Chemical Manufacturing
Name Age Since Current Position
Rohr, Mark 59 2010 Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer
Kissam, Luther 46 2010 President
Tozier, Scott 45 2011 Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President
Steitz, John 52 2007 Chief Operating Officer, Executive Vice President
Narwold, Karen 51 Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary
Allen, William 46 2010 Chief Accounting Officer, Vice President, Corporate Controller
Daniel, Nicole 42 2010 Chief Compliance Officer, Vice President, Deputy General Counsel
Fishman, Richard 58 2011 Chief Tax Counsel, Vice President, Treasurer
Juneau, Matthew 50 2010 Vice President - Global Sales and Service
Rich, Darian 50 2008 Vice President - Human Resources
Nicols, John 46 2007 Vice President - Catalysts
Zumstein, Ronald 49 2010 Vice President - Manufacturing
Gardner, Ronald 59 2007 Vice President - Fine Chemicals
Parnell, Anthony 51 2009 Vice President - Polymer Solutions
Clary, David 51 2008 Vice President, Chief Sustainability Officer
Shah, Milan 35 2009 Vice President - Business Development
Sherman, John 65 2003 Lead Independent Director
Stewart, Charles 74 2010 Director
Whittemore, Anne 65 1996 Independent Director
Morrill, Richard 71 2002 Independent Director
Broaddus, J. Alfred 71 2004 Independent Director
Ide, R. William 70 2005 Independent Director
Taggart, Harriett 62 2007 Independent Director
Nokes, Jim 64 2009 Independent Director
Perry, Barry 64 2010 Independent Director
Hernandez, William 63 2011 Independent Director
Address:
330 South 4th Street
Richmond, Virginia 23210
U.S.A.
Albemarle Corporation (Albemarle), incorporated in 1993, is a global developer, manufacturer and marketer of engineered specialty chemicals for consumer electronics, petroleum refining, utilities, packaging, construction, automotive/transportation, pharmaceuticals, crop protection, food-safety and custom chemistry services. The Company operates in three segments: Polymer Solutions, Catalysts and Fine Chemicals. As of December 31, 2010, the Company and its joint ventures operated 45 facilities in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Albemarle serves approximately 3,000 customers in over 100 countries. In August 2010, the Company sold its Teesport, the United Kingdom facility to Kemira Oyj. On September 13, 2010, it purchased some property and equipment in Yeosu, South Korea.
Polymer Solutions
Albemarle’s Polymer Solutions segment consists of two product market categories: flame retardants and stabilizers and curatives. Flame Retardants, its fire safety technology, enables the use of plastics in heat applications by enhancing the flame resistant properties of these materials. End market for this products include consumer electronics, printed circuit boards, wire and cable, electrical connectors, textiles, foam insulation, and foam seating in furniture and automobiles. Its brominated flame retardants include Saytex; its mineral-based flame retardants include Martinal and Magnifin, and its phosphorus-based flame retardants include Antiblaze and Ncendx.
The Company produces plastic and other additives, such as curatives, antioxidants and stabilizers. Its additives products include curatives for polyurethane, polyurea and epoxy system polymerization. This business also produces antioxidants and stabilizers. Its Ethacure curatives are used in cast elastomers, coatings, reaction injection molding (RIM) and specialty adhesives that are incorporated into products, such as wheels, tires and rollers. Its line of Ethanox antioxidants is used by manufacturers of polyolefins to maintain physical properties during the manufacturing process, including the color of the final product. These antioxidants are found in applications, such as slit film, wire and cable, food packaging and pipes.
Albemarle also produces antioxidants used in fuels and lubricants. Its line of Ethanox fuel and lubricant antioxidants are used by refiners and fuel marketers to extend fuel storage life and protect fuel systems, and by oil marketers and lubricant manufacturers to extend the useful life of lubricating oils, fluids and greases used in engines and various types of machinery. The Company’s Polymer Solutions segment offers more than 70 products to a range of end-markets. It sells its products to chemical manufacturers and processors, such as polymer resin suppliers, lubricant manufacturers, refiners and other specialty chemical companies. It has sales and marketing network in China, Japan, Korea and Singapore with products sourced from the United States, Europe, China and the Middle East.
The Company competes with Israel Chemicals, Jiangsu Yoke Technology Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Wansheng Chemical Co., Ltd., .M. Huber Corporation, Kyowa Chemical Industry Co., Ltd., Nabaltec GmbH, BASF Corporation, Chemtura Corporation and Songwon Industrial Co., Ltd.
Catalysts
Albemarle’s Catalysts segment includes its refinery catalysts and polyolefin catalysts businesses. Its two refinery catalysts product lines include hydroprocessing catalysts (HPC) and fluidized catalytic cracking (FCC), catalysts and additives. In renewable, non-crude-based fuels, it has also launched new catalysts for customers. HPC catalysts are primarily used to reduce the quantity of sulfur and other impurities in petroleum products, as well as to convert heavy feedstock into lighter products. FCC catalysts assist in the cracking of petroleum streams into derivative, products, such as fuels and petrochemical feedstock. Its FCC additives are used to remove sulfur in gasoline and to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide in FCC units. The Company offers more than 90 different HPC catalysts products and more than 70 different FCC catalysts and additives products to its customers.
Polyolefin Catalysts manufactures aluminum- and magnesium-alkyls, which are used as co-catalysts in the production of polyolefins, elastomers, alpha olefins, such as hexene, octene and decene, and organotin heat stabilizers, which are used in the preparation of organic intermediates. It also produces metallocene/single-site catalysts, which aid in the development and production of new polymers. The Company’s Catalysts segment’s customers include ExxonMobil Corporation, Royal Dutch Shell plc, Chevron Corporation, Valero Energy Corporation, Tesoro Petroleum Corporation, Saudi Aramco Mobil Refinery Company Ltd., Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. and Petroleos Mexicanos.
The Company competes with Criterion Catalysts and Technologies, W.R. Grace & Co./Advanced Refining Technologies, Haldor Topsoe, W.R. Grace & Co., BASF Corporation, Akzo Nobel N.V., Chemtura Corporation, Tosoh Corporation and W.R. Grace & Co.
Fine Chemistry
Albemarle’s Fine Chemistry segment consists of two categories: performance chemicals and fine chemistry services and intermediates. Performance chemicals include elemental bromine, alkyl bromides, inorganic bromides, brominated powdered activated carbon and a number of bromine fine chemicals. Its products are used in chemical synthesis, oil and gas well drilling and completion fluids, mercury control, paper manufacturing, water purification, beef and poultry processing and various other industrial applications. Other performance chemicals that it produces include tertiary amines for surfactants, biocides, disinfectants and sanitizers; potassium-based products used in industrial applications; alkenyl succinic anhydride used in paper-sizing formulations, and aluminum oxides used in a range of refractory, ceramic and polishing applications. It sells these products to customers worldwide for use in personal care products, automotive insulation, foundry bricks and other industrial products.
In addition to supplying the fine chemistry products and performance chemicals for the pharmaceutical and agricultural uses, the Company’s fine chemistry services business offers custom manufacturing, research and chemical scale-up services for companies. Its Ibuprofen is used to provide temporary pain relief and fever reduction. The Company also produces a range of intermediates used in the manufacture of a variety of over-the-counter and prescription drugs. Its agrichemicals are sold to agrichemical manufacturers and distributors that produce and distribute finished agricultural herbicides, insecticides, fungicides and soil fumigants. The Company’s products include orthoalkylated anilines used in the acetanilide family of pre-emergent herbicides used with corn, soybeans and other crops and methyl bromide, which is used as a soil fumigant. It also manufactures and supplies a range of chemical intermediates for the agricultural industry.
Albemarle’s Fine Chemistry segment manufactures more than 100 products, which are used in a range of end-markets. Sales of products and services are to chemical manufacturers and processors, including pharmaceutical, agricultural, drilling and oil services, water treatment and photographic companies, and to other specialty chemical companies.
The Company competes with Chemtura Corporation, Israel Chemicals, BASF Corporation, Lonza, Clariant Ltd. and Cilag AG.
During the late 1950s, the development of new materials such as polyethylene film posed a threat to paper makers such as Gottwald's Albemarle. Gottwald had orchestrated the expansion of Albemarle during his tenure, guiding the company toward an emphasis on converting its paper production into finished products, but the emergence of new materials asked new questions of paper makers. The threat demanded one of two responses: either embrace new technological advancements or dismiss the advancements as justification for investment. Gottwald chose to bank the future health of Albemarle on the development of novel materials and began looking for a partner to help him stay on the vanguard of technology. During his search for assistance in producing polyethylene, Gottwald discovered Ethyl. Gottwald's discovery and his desire to obtain Ethyl made business history. Gottwald became the figure behind the largest leveraged buyout ever completed at the time. It was a deal that newspaper headlines described as "Jonah Swallows the Whale," according to Ethyl's web site-published history.
The marriage of Albemarle and Ethyl occurred in 1962. Gottwald borrowed $200 million and acquired a company 13 times larger than Albemarle, creating a new, Virginia-registered concern named Ethyl Corporation that embodied the assets of the Delaware-registered Ethyl Corporation and Albemarle Paper Manufacturing Company. Gottwald was appointed chairman of the new company he had created. Under his leadership, the company expanded. In 1964, Ethyl S.A. was formed as a European subsidiary to ease the company's entry into foreign markets. In 1968, Gottwald's son, Floyd D. Gottwald, Jr., replaced his father as chairman and continued to spearhead Ethyl's diversification and expansion.
Under Floyd Gottwald, Jr., Ethyl developed into a multifaceted concern, directing its growth in four directions. The company followed the general corporate trend that emerged during the late 1960s. Industrial concerns of all types diversified their operations in a new era of holding companies and sprawling conglomerates, assembling a number of different, sometimes eclectic, business interests. Ethyl chose to concentrate on four business areas: chemicals, plastics, aluminum, and energy. Conspicuous by its absence was the company's original business, paper manufacturing. In 1969, a portion of the company's paper making properties was sold to a group of employees who used the assets as the foundation for a new company, James River Corporation. In 1976, after nearly 90 years in the business, the company exited paper manufacture entirely when it divested Oxford Paper.
In paper's place, Ethyl built a presence in its four business groups. In 1968, when Floyd Gottwald, Jr., took the helm as chairman, the company strengthened its interests in plastics by acquiring IMCO Container Company. In 1975, the company purchased a global supplier of lubricant additives named Edwin Cooper, adding to its chemicals portfolio. During the 1980s, Ethyl continued to build on four foundations, making two important acquisitions. In 1986, the company announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire the bromine chemicals business belonging to Dow Chemical, an agreement of significant importance to the future of Albemarle. (Bromine is a nonmetallic liquid element used in producing gasoline antiknock mixtures, fumigants, dyes, and photographic chemicals.) The acquisition, completed in 1987, included Dow Chemical's plant in Magnolia, Arkansas, where bromine production had begun in 1969. The addition of bromine production capabilities, which became a central component of Albemarle's flame retardant business, was followed in 1989 by the acquisition of Russ Pharmaceuticals, Inc., based in Birmingham, Alabama.
OVERALL
Beta: 1.47
Market Cap (Mil.): $6,299.20
Shares Outstanding (Mil.): 91.65
Annual Dividend: 0.66
Yield (%): 0.96
FINANCIALS
ALB Industry Sector
P/E (TTM): 17.28 16.66 25.53
EPS (TTM): 69.53 -- --
ROI: 13.67 26.84 17.76
ROE: 26.25 25.99 17.73
Statistics:
Public Company
Incorporated: 1994
Employees: 3,000
Sales: $980.20 million (2002)
Stock Exchanges: New York
Ticker Symbol: ALB
NAIC: 325211 Plastics Material and Resin Manufacturing; 325188 All Other Inorganic Chemical Manufacturing
Name Age Since Current Position
Rohr, Mark 59 2010 Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer
Kissam, Luther 46 2010 President
Tozier, Scott 45 2011 Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President
Steitz, John 52 2007 Chief Operating Officer, Executive Vice President
Narwold, Karen 51 Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary
Allen, William 46 2010 Chief Accounting Officer, Vice President, Corporate Controller
Daniel, Nicole 42 2010 Chief Compliance Officer, Vice President, Deputy General Counsel
Fishman, Richard 58 2011 Chief Tax Counsel, Vice President, Treasurer
Juneau, Matthew 50 2010 Vice President - Global Sales and Service
Rich, Darian 50 2008 Vice President - Human Resources
Nicols, John 46 2007 Vice President - Catalysts
Zumstein, Ronald 49 2010 Vice President - Manufacturing
Gardner, Ronald 59 2007 Vice President - Fine Chemicals
Parnell, Anthony 51 2009 Vice President - Polymer Solutions
Clary, David 51 2008 Vice President, Chief Sustainability Officer
Shah, Milan 35 2009 Vice President - Business Development
Sherman, John 65 2003 Lead Independent Director
Stewart, Charles 74 2010 Director
Whittemore, Anne 65 1996 Independent Director
Morrill, Richard 71 2002 Independent Director
Broaddus, J. Alfred 71 2004 Independent Director
Ide, R. William 70 2005 Independent Director
Taggart, Harriett 62 2007 Independent Director
Nokes, Jim 64 2009 Independent Director
Perry, Barry 64 2010 Independent Director
Hernandez, William 63 2011 Independent Director
Address:
330 South 4th Street
Richmond, Virginia 23210
U.S.A.
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