Toray Industries, Inc. has reached an agreement with Koninklijke Ten Cate B.V. of the Netherlands to purchase the entire shares of its subsidiary TenCate Advanced Composites Holding B.V., a Dutch manufacturer of carbon fiber composite materials.
Toray and KTC plan to sign without delay a share purchase agreement on this acquisition after completing discussions with the Works Council, as stipulated by Dutch laws.
The acquisition will be carried out based on the premise of receiving approval, etc. from the regulatory authorities.
The global carbon fiber business field has been expanding steadily led by demand for applications such as aircraft as well as environment and energy including windmill blades for wind power generation.
In the aircraft industry, demand for medium- and small-sized, single aisle aircraft is growing significantly, and the development of next generation aircraft targeting such demand is expected to intensify. It is assumed that the use of thermoplastic prepregs will further increase for medium- and small-sized mass-produced aircraft, as the material enables to bring down costs by improving efficiency of molding of members.
TCAC is a prepreg manufacturer with its main manufacturing bases in Europe and the U.S., and has a track record of widely supplying thermoplastic prepregs and high heat-resistance thermoset resin materials. Especially, TCAC is a global-leading company of carbon fiber intermediate materials using thermoplastic resins.
The acquisition is expected to generate significant synergies by combining the product lineup in which TCAC specializes with the broad range of carbon fiber as well as polymer technologies, which are Toray’s strengths. Combining the two companies’ distribution channels, the company can offer a wider product lineup to customers. Toray will respond swiftly to the expansion of the market for small-sized aircraft, and further expand business for industrial applications including automobiles in the medium- to long-term.