US speciality resins and coatings company Momentive Specialty Chemicals will change its name to Hexion Inc., effective January 15, 2015. Hexion is a company that affiliate Momentive Performance Materials bought in 2010 and merged the business within the company.

“We are pleased to leverage the rich legacy of the Hexion name, which already has significant name recognition in the marketplace, and believe it better aligns with our company heritage,” said Craig Morrison, Chairman, President and CEO. “With significant market positions, we look forward to leveraging our speciality portfolio to continue serving our global customers. Our leading product brands, such as Epikote, Epikure, Oilplus resin coated propants, and various types of forest product resins and formaldehyde solutions, remain unchanged other than they are now under the Hexion Inc. umbrella.”

Momentive Specialty Chemicals has also recently completed or announced a number of strategic growth initiatives in 2014, including: the acquisition of an oilfield facility in Shreveport, Louisiana; a new epoxy resin and curing agent production facility in Itatiba, Brazil; a phenolic specialty resins joint venture manufacturing facility in China, which is expected to be operational in the fourth quarter of this year; and three formaldehyde facilities, which are expected come online in late 2015 and 2016, respectively.

Based in Columbus, Ohio, Momentive is a global leader in thermoset resins and serves the global wood and industrial markets through a broad range of thermoset technologies and speciality products. The company is controlled by investment funds affiliated with private equity firm Apollo Global Management.

In 2010, Hexion Specialty Chemicals became Momentive Performance Materials (MPM) after a merger that combined Ohio-based Hexion and MPM. Silicone and quartz producer MPM was formed in 2006 through the acquisition of GE Advanced Materials. Hexion was formed in 2005 through the combination of Borden Chemical Inc., Resolution Performance Products Inc., Resolution Specialty Materials Inc. and Bakelite AG.

Last year, MPM said it had successfully completed its balance sheet restructuring and emerged from Chapter 11. Its emergence from the restructuring resulted in what it said was a significant liquidity of approximately US$360 million and a free cash flow profile. As a result of this process, MPM also eliminated approximately US$3 billion of debt from its balance sheet with a pro forma net debt of approximately US$1.2 billion.