Laporte plc was a leading

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

chemical A chemical substance is a unique form of matter with constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Chemical substances may take the form of a single element or chemical compounds. If two or more chemical substances can be combin ...

s business that operated from 1888 to 2000. It was listed on the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

and was a constituent of the

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History

The Company was founded by Bernard Laporte, a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...

, in 1888 as a supplier of

peroxide In chemistry, peroxides are a group of Chemical compound, compounds with the structure , where the R's represent a radical (a portion of a complete molecule; not necessarily a free radical) and O's are single oxygen atoms. Oxygen atoms are joined ...

to bleach straw boating hats.Degussa-Huels buys Laporte outright
The Scotsman, 16 December 2000 It subsequently diversified into other aspects of bleaching and commercial laundry chemicals. In the 1980s it disposed of its manufacturing operations. In 1993 it acquired ''Evode Group plc'', suppliers of

adhesive Adhesive, also known as glue, cement, mucilage, or paste, is any non-metallic substance applied to one or both surfaces of two separate items that binds them together and resists their separation. The use of adhesives offers certain advantage ...

s and specialties. It went on to buy ''Aztec Peroxides Inc.'', a US

peroxides In chemistry, peroxides are a group of compounds with the structure , where the R's represent a radical (a portion of a complete molecule; not necessarily a free radical) and O's are single oxygen atoms. Oxygen atoms are joined to each other and ...

business, in 1994 and ''Inspec Group plc'', suppliers of

specialty chemicals Specialty chemicals (also called specialties or effect chemicals) are particular chemical products that provide a wide variety of effects on which many other industry sectors rely. Some of the categories of speciality chemicals are adhesives, agr ...

, in 1998. It sold its major divisions, some 55% of the business by revenue, to

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global private-equity and investment company. , the firm had completed private-equity investments in portfolio companies with approximately $710 billion of total ...

in 2000. These divisions (''Pigments and Additives'', ''Formulated Products & Compounds'' and ''Computers & Electronics'') subsequently became known as ''Rockwood Holdings Inc.'' In December 2000 ''Degussa SKW'', a joint venture between Degussa AG and SKW Trostberg, acquired the remainder of the business. The performance chemicals business was subsequently sold on by Degussa to Cognis.

Operations

The Company had the following divisions:Laporte PLC Sells AlphaGary, Southern Clay
Plastics Technology, 1 November 2000 *Pigments & Additives - iron oxide pigments for plastics (based in

St Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

) and clay based additives for plastics (''Southern Clay Inc.'') *Formulated Products & Compounds -

PVC Polyvinyl chloride (alternatively: poly(vinyl chloride), colloquial: vinyl or polyvinyl; abbreviated: PVC) is the world's third-most widely produced synthetic polymer of plastic (after polyethylene and polypropylene). About 40 million tons o ...

and

TPE TPE may refer to: Places * Taipei (ISO 3166 code: TW-TPE), the capital of Taiwan * "Chinese Taipei" (IOC and FIFA code: TPE), the name used in some international organizations and competitions for Taiwan Science and technology * TPE (cable system ...

materials for data transmission cables, electrical insulation and closure seals for beverages (''Alpha Gary Inc.'') *Computers & Electronics *Specialty Chemicals -

Peroxide In chemistry, peroxides are a group of Chemical compound, compounds with the structure , where the R's represent a radical (a portion of a complete molecule; not necessarily a free radical) and O's are single oxygen atoms. Oxygen atoms are joined ...

s (''Aztec Peroxides Inc.'') *Rockwood Additives was based in

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2021–2022 United Kingdom censuses, 2021 census had a population of 62,400. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, ...

, UK. Here the two products Fulacolor and Laponite were produced. Altana AG acquired the Additives business in October 2013. It is currently operated under the sub division BYK Additives & Instruments.

References

{{Authority control Chemical companies established in 1888 Chemical companies of the United Kingdom Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange Companies based in Luton Manufacturing companies disestablished in 2000 2000 mergers and acquisitions 1888 establishments in England