Materials firm Kraton Corp. has received a big honor from its hometown newspaper.
The Houston Chronicle recently named Kraton the top performer in its annual Chronicle 100 ranking of local businesses.
Kraton "went relatively unnoticed for years, but it suddenly doubled in size in a late 2015 acquisition…the company bet big when it bought Arizona Chemical for $1.37 billion," the paper wrote June 17. Kraton now "is solidifying its standing as a major global player in specialty chemicals."
Kraton CEO Kevin Fogarty told the Chronicle that "many people probably have never heard of Kraton, but they probably touch Kraton in any given day."
Bill Hyde, senior director of olefins and elastomers at consulting firm IHS Markit in Houston, added in the artice that Kraton has found success in a specialty chemicals niche that requires a lot of customer service and technical expertise.
Kraton in May opened a new plant making hydrogenated styrenic block copolymers in Taiwan. That plant is co-owned by Taiwan's Formosa Petrochemical Corp.
Kraton's polymers are used in a wide range of applications, including adhesives, coatings, consumer and personal care products, sealants and lubricants, and paving and roofing applications. The firm posted sales of more than $1.7 billion in 2016.