SµO PAULO, BRAZIL — Bayer SA SÃŒo Paulo, a Brazilian subsidiary of Bayer AG, acquired two-thirds of Central de Pol¡meros da Bahia SA. CPB is the largest ABS and SAN producer in Brazil, with an installed capacity of 110 million pounds per year.
CPB's plant in Camacari originally belonged to Unigel group.
``The transaction represents a significant step for Bayer toward establishing itself as a major ABS supplier in Latin America,'' said Theunis Marinho.
Bayer AG will centralize all its plastics activities for Latin America at its Brazilian subsidiary, Marinho said. He is leaving his position as financial and administrative director at Bayer Brazil to become the firm's plastics business coordinator in Latin America, as well as CPB president.
CPB employs 200. Its sales exceeded US$65 million in 1996.
Last year the Camavari plant operated at 50 percent capacity, basically supplying the domestic market, Marinho said. The firm intends to step up production and export to Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela and Peru.