Air Water is going to expand the scale of its fine chemical business to increase its sales by 10 billion yen implementing two M&A plans in this autumn.

One is the acquisition of FILWEL which was a chemical product manufacturer of the former Kanebo producing precision polishing pads and artificial leathers. The other is Daito Chemical which is Japan’s top manufacturer of sodium acetate.

As for FILWEL, Air Water acquired all the issued shares from the current shareholder fund on September 27. FILWEL born in the R&D division of former Kanebo is a chemical manufacturer to produce and sell precision polishing pads and artificial leathers based on the fabric and polymeric technologies. Since the business failure of Kanebo in 2007, the fund has been taking over the business and management.

The precision polishing pad of the main product is used for the finishing process of the production of electronic devices and accounts for about 70% of corporate sales. In the chemical field, Air Water is tackling to expand its fine chemical products related to electronics materials like polishing slurry or sealing materials. With the addition of precision polishing pad the company aims to enrich the lineup of products.

In addition FILWEL’s business office is located adjacent to the Hofu operations which Air Water took over from former Kanebo in 2008 and is engaged now with the Bellpearl business. Air Water intends to make the best of utilities and management divisions bilaterally to bring up their synergy effects.
　FILWEL is capitalized at 50 million yen, and Air Water takes over all shares from the fund this time.
The transfer value is not disclosed. The annual sales amounts to 3.12 billion yen with 138 employees (FY2018 ending December). Other than the precision polishing pad, FILWEL is also producing artificial leather to be used for shoes and so on.

Regarding Daito Chemical, on the other hand, Air Water signed a transfer agreement on September 19 with the shareholders Mitsui (investment rate: 70%) and Fuji Film (investment rate: 30%) for the transfer of all the shares on October 30.

Daito Chemical used to be a chemical manufacturer having the top share of sodium acetate for photographic fixing solution in Japan. Due to the decreasing demand for photo films the production furnaces were being utilized to the assigned synthesizing business of organic chemicals.

In the chemical business field, Air Water has been engaged in the fine chemical products like pharmaceutical intermediates or electronics materials. With the affiliation of Daito Chemical, Air Water can realize synergy effects in the field of production by utilizing the production furnaces for these fine chemicals. It motivated Daito to accept the proposal of acquisition.

In addition, as sodium acetate can be used for the raw materials of food additives and also blood dialysis, Air Water may expect a synergy effect also in the agricultural, food and medical business of the company.

Daito Chemical is capitalized at 247 million yen with 260 employees. The annual sales amounts to 7.772 billion yen (FY2019 ending Mach).