Grace completes buy, invests in Malaysia

W.R. Grace & Co., which has itself just agreed to be acquired by Standard Industries Holdings for approximately $7 billion, has announced two further transactions. It has completed the $570 million acquisition of Albemarle Fine Chemistry Services and the expansion of its manufacturing plant in Kuantan, Malaysia.

Sandra Wisniewski, president of Grace Materials Technologies, said that FCS builds on its strengths “by expanding our expertise and offerings and further deepens our position in high growth pharma markets, such as oncology, diabetes, cardiovascular and antiviral”. Grace’s existing pharma portfolio focused on chromatographic resins, formulation excipients and drug delivery, pharmaceutical intermediates and APIs.

The Kuantan expansion, the fourth since the site opened in 2006, was driven by growing demand for silica gel in industries including coatings, plastics, paper, textiles and leather, beverages, edible oil and biodiesel. Grace had previously expanded its site at Worms, Germany, in 2020. No further details were disclosed.