US firm Nordson Corp. has bought Sealant Equipment & Engineering, which makes metering, mixing and dispensing equipment and valves. Nordson had also earlier in the year purchased screw/barrel maker Xaloy and die maker Extrusion Dies Industries.

Sealant’s equipment is used to apply one to three-component adhesive, sealant and lubricating materials, mainly for the PU industry. It had sales of US$18 million for the year ended 30 June and will operate as part of Nordson’s Industrial Coating Systems segment.

Nordson says the purchase will provide it a broader presence in the cold materials equipment market and focus on a wide variety of general industry applications including aerospace and transportation, building and construction, medical, alternative energy and others.

Nordson makes products and systems used for dispensing and processing adhesives, coatings, sealants, biomaterials and plastics, fluid management, test and inspection, UV curing and plasma surface treatment.

In its entry into the plastics sector, the public-listed firm last year bought Belgian flat-die maker Constructiewerkhuizen G. Verbruggen and injection moulder of single-use medical fittings Value Plastics, followed by its acquisitions this year.

Nordson had sales of US$1.2 billion in 2011.

US private equity firm Carlyle Group has paid US$4.9 billion to acquire DuPont Performance Coatings.

German chemicals firm BASF has set up a new research laboratory for thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU) in the US.

German automotive products supplier Mann + Hummel GmbH is expanding in China by acquiring Bengbu Haoye, a manufacturer of filters for the automotive industry.

US-based Emerald Kalama Chemical is building a facility to manufacture environmentally friendly materials in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, at the plant it acquired from DSM in 2010.

Mitsui Chemicals of Tokyo has established a company for functional polymeric materials in Shanghai’s Jinshan district.

Five years after Huntsman Polyurethanes teamed up with renewable resource-based polyol producer Alberdingk Boley to co-develop PU solutions for the coatings market.

Solvay Advanced Polymers is upping capacity for its Spire polyetheretherketone (PAEK) by 70% at its Panoli, India, plant.

In lieu of a growing lighter vehicles trend, Lanxess opens its first US$20 million worth production plant for high-tech plastics plant in Gasronia in the U.S. state of North Carolina, to help meet the increasing demand for premium, lightweight plastics.