Buying DuPont’s chloroprene business with Mitsui & Co., and founding DPE (2014)

What came attached to the plant it bought

The plant it bought carried the name of the company that had put this synthetic rubber into the world in 1931. The side that entered as the world’s third producer in 1962 was, fifty-three years later, taking on the originator’s equipment and about 235 employees — impeccable as symbolism, and in practical terms a choice aimed squarely at the weakness of supplying from Omi alone. President Yoshitaka Shinsuke called it investment in a core business and carried it 70:30 with Mitsui & Co., a sales partner of long standing. The reasoning appears to have held together.

What it took on, though, was not only equipment and customers. The EPA’s assessment of the carcinogenicity of chloroprene monomer had been in hand five years before the acquisition, and even after spending $35 million to cut emissions by 85%, the new regulations of 2024 could not be avoided. The second site, halted after a ¥16.1 billion impairment, ended by sending its customers back to product made at the Omi plant. An acquisition meant to double up supply became, over ten years, a re-measurement of how much the company depends on Omi.