Düsseldorf/Darmstadt: Thyssen Krupp Werkstoffe GmbH (TKW), Düsseldorf, a subsidiary of Thyssen Krupp Materials & Services AG, Düsseldorf, and Röhm GmbH, Darmstadt, a subsidiary of Degussa-Hüls AG, Frankfurt/Main, have signed a memorandum of understanding to contribute their respective plastics semis trading subsidiaries and investees to a joint venture which will operate as a European trading organization. As management holding company, the venture, to be named Thyssen Röhm Kunststoffhandelsgesellschaft mbH (TRK), will parent the shareholdings contributed by TKW and Röhm, TKW owning the majority of the TRK shares.

In a first stage, TKW has agreed with the Cadillac Plastic Group, Inc., Troy, Michigan, USA (M. A. Hanna Company) to take over the latter's 50% stakes in Cadillac Plastic GmbH, Germany, Cadillac Plastic France S.A., France, and Cadillac Plastic S.A., Spain, in which Röhm has held the other 50%. TKW and Röhm will then each hold 50% of the shares in these three plastics traders.

In a second stage, TKW and Röhm will shortly contribute to their TRK joint venture further plastics semis trading companies operating in Germany and elsewhere in Europe. However, the companies contributed will continue to operate on their own in their respective markets. TKW and Röhm have for some time been working together as shareholders of Otto Wolff Kunststoffvertrieb GmbH, Düsseldorf.

The new joint venture will have a European sales network and offer its customers a wide range of semifinished plastics products and related services.

The overall project is still subject to the approval by antitrust authorities.