4 MPR January/February 20114 MPR January/February 2011 0026-0657/11 ©2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

news

New European boss for Hoeganaes

Shashi Shukla

Hoeganaes Corporation has appointed Shashi Shukla as the new manag-ing director of Hoeganaes Corporation Europe, reporting to the corpora-tion’s president, Dave Kasputis.

Mr Shukla has 15 years’ industrial experience and worked for GKN for over 11 years, initially as sales direc-tor for GKN Sinter Metals and most recently with GKN AMS/Land Systems as commercial director.

He will be based in Meerbusch, Germany, and his primary responsibili-ties will be the direction of all operational, commer-cial and sales efforts for Europe, Near East and India.

Platinum swallows copper monolithLos Angeles-based Platinum Equity, owner of SCM Metal Products, has completed the acquisition of the majority of the material assets of Ecka Granules, headquartered in Fürth, Germany.

The transaction, terms of which were not disclosed, will include copper, aluminium and magnesium powder man-ufacturing plants and sales offices in Australia, Austria, Bahrain, China, Germany,

Slovenia, Switzerland, the UK and the US.

“Ecka Granules is synony-mous with quality products and leading-edge technology. The brand aligns perfectly with SCM’s customer-focused business model,” said Jacob Kotzubei, the Platinum part-ner leading the transaction. “This acquisition is part of an ongoing strategy to expand our presence in the metal powders space. Ecka Granules

is an excellent strategic fit for our portfolio.”

Ecka Granules and SCM will continue marketing under their own brands. SCM presi-dent Barton White will serve as CEO of both companies. “We can now offer custom-ers a unique, international combination of manufacturing plants, technical support, and direct sales and marketing channels in the United States, Asia and Europe,” he said.

“By expanding our reach and moving closer to customers around the world, we can decrease lead times and opti-mise our plants to improve the supply chain and ultimately increase value.”

Founded by Carl Eckart in 1876, Ecka began mak-ing bronze powder in 1918. Ecka Granulate GmbH & Co KG and several of its subsidiaries filed for insol-vency in August 2009.

Poudmet sale ‘on course for Q1’Following the sale late last year of the majority of copper powder producer Ecka Granules assets to US-based venture capitalists Platinum Equity (PE), management at the French subsidiary excluded from the deal, Poudmet, has flatly denied market rumours that it is facing administration and says sale negotiations are expected to be successfully concluded in the first quarter.

The Poudmet plant at Sénécourt, about 60 km north of Paris, manufactures high-quality water atomised copper powders and alloys such as bronze and brass as well as special alloys.

It was extensively updated only three years ago with the installation of three new atomisation

lines for copper, copper alloys and special alloys.

The copper and copper alloy lines each include two induction furnaces and three atomisation furnaces with corresponding filtration, dry-ing and on-line sieving instal-lations. The special alloy line has two atomisation furnace and associated facilities. Safety and environmental controls were also uprated.

Poudmet’s customer base includes the PM industry, diamond tooling, manufac-turers of friction products and the chemical industry.

Poudmet president Bruno Cottereau said: “Following the insolvency of the Ecka Group in Germany, Ecka Granules Poudmet SAS is still in a sales process. After Platinum Equity’s decision few months ago to exclude

Poudmet from its considera-tions, talks with other inter-ested investors continued.

“Negotiations between a preferred investor and the local banks are progressing well and the sales process is on a positive path. The proposed restructuring under the new investor will relieve the organisation of many burdens of the past. Local banks have always support-ed Poudmet and continue to do so. The plant is operating normally and all customer inquiries are being served. Our market position is good and will further improve under the new investor. It is expected that the sales proc-ess will be finalised within the first quarter of 2011.

•The PE deal for Ecka came too late to include the Trautenfurt, Germany,

plant that manufactures electrolytic copper powder (ECP). That was sold in May to GGP Germany, a sub-sidiary of GGP Switzerland which, in turn, is owned by Uralelectromed of Russia, the major com-pany in the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company conglomerate. The deal has raised fears in the European market over continuity of ECP supply to smaller com-panies that used to buy from Ecka. SCM manufac-tures ECP, but it is not clear whether it has the capacity to serve European markets as well its domestic North American customer base. Italy’s Pometon has ECP manufacturing interests based in Serbia, but it is thought to be a compara-tively small-scale operation.