Disruptive indeed...

Something that caught my attention in this month’s presentation was the comment,

Recent disruptions in bedding supply chain will positively affect Alexium’s position.

This followed the note that Alexium had secured its first Alexicool account with a major bedding brand in October last year.

In October last year, BASF suffered a deadly explosion and fire at its major production plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany. The chemical site is the largest of its kind in Europe. At the time it was suggested that some production units could be shut down for an extended period of time, hurting BASF’s sales and earnings.

Nothing to do with Alexium, one might think, because BASF had sold its textile chemicals business to Archroma two years earlier.

Yet I notice the announcement this month that BASF was selling its decade-old Micronal PCM business to microencapsulated PCM specialist company, Microtek Laboratories. Microtek Laboratories is an Ohio-based, privately-held company. Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed. The sale includes the Micronal brand and IP, but not BASF’s Ludwigshafen production site and laboratories. (3) Micronal PCM technology is described by BASF as being based on plastic capsules which are filled with wax that absorb and release energy by melting and solidifying. It can be applied in liquid form as an emulsion or as a dried powder. BASF says that the product is mainly used for construction materials and mattresses.

The impact of the Ludwigshafen explosion on supply of Micronal PCM for mattresses is unclear but BASF did announce in December 2016 that “failure to supply has raised industry prices, caused supply chain delays, shortages that may well continue into H2 of FY.”  It is also unclear which brands of mattresses incorporated Micronal.

Although Microtek Laboratories would seem to be the one to now watch with respect to cooling technology, BASF hasn’t disappeared from the market. Just this week BASF launched a media campaign for its functional cooling textile brands, E.COOLINE and IDENIXX, which are described as “mobile airconditioners to wear”. E.COOLINE has already been around since at least 2011 and has been incorporated into professional team sport apparel, F1 racegear and firefighting uniforms. Why the promotion campaign now, I’m not sure.

All of which makes me wonder….

Has BASF’s misfortune last year provided Alexium with the opportunity to gain rapid traction in the bedding market with Alexicool?

What plans does Microtek have for Micronal?

How does Alexicool compare with E.COOLINE in high performance applications?

With all the recent disruption in the textile chemicals industry (Huntsman, Archroma, BASF) – is it possible that Alexium is playing a role?