Showa Denko to License Vinyl Acetate Monomer Technology to Asian Paints, India

December 26, 2022

Showa Denko K.K. (SDK) (TOKYO: 4004) has decided to license its technology to produce vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) to Asian Paints Limited, a leading paint and décor company in India , under a formal alliance agreement between SDK and KBR (NYSE: KBR), a global engineering and technology solutions company based in the U.S.. In addition, SDK will provide Asian Paints with catalysts to be used for the company’s VAM production.

In order to strengthen its petrochemicals business’s tolerance to price fluctuation and earnings stability, SDK has been striving to improve the makeup of its organic chemicals sector by expanding the lineup of high-value-added products including derivatives, and expanding business to license SDK’s technologies to produce organic chemicals. Licensing of the technology to produce VAM of this time follows the same licensing to Shenghong Refining Petrochemical (Lian Yun Gang) Co., Ltd., China, in 2019.

VAM is a colorless transparent liquid used as raw material for wide-ranging products including adhesives and synthetic resins. SDK has been producing VAM at its Oita Petrochemical Complex for more than 40 years. As a part of the licensing package of this time, SDK will provide Asian Paints with its technical know-how about safe and stable operation of the VAM plant, which SDK accumulated through operation of many years, through KBR.

In addition, SDK will provide Asian Paints with catalysts for the company’s VAM production facility. We expect SDK’s catalysts will improve performance of the Asian Paints’ new plant.

Asian Paints is India’s leading paint and décor company and ranked among the top ten decorative coatings companies in the world with a consolidated turnover of ₹ 29,101.28 crores (₹ 291 billion) with a market capital of approximately ₹ 3100 billion. Asian Paints along with its subsidiaries have operations in 15 countries across the world with 27 paint manufacturing facilities, servicing consumers in over 60 countries. Asian Paints also offers a wide range of Home Décor products and is an emerging strong player in the Home Improvement and décor space in India. Asian Paints plans to establish a new VAM production plant in India, which will have a capacity to produce 100 thousand tons of VAM per year. VAM produced by that plant will be used as raw material for ethylene-vinyl acetate emulsion (VAE) and other products.

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