Tosoh Reorganizes Its European Operations
Tokyo, Japan, March 19, 2009—Tosoh Corporation is reorganizing its European operations to strengthen its business in Europe. Tosoh Bioscience N.V., the Tessenderlo, Belgium-based European sales and distribution arm of Tosoh Bioscience, will become the parent company for our European operations and will be renamed Tosoh Europe N.V. Our Amsterdam, Netherlands–based representative office and trading company, Tosoh Europe B.V., will become a Tosoh Europe N.V. subsidiary.
Tosoh Europe N.V. will have consolidated revenues of over Euro 100 million and will employ approximately 170 people in Belgium, the Netherlands, France, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Italy, and Germany. The newly named company will provide Tosoh Group companies throughout Europe with human resources, accounting, information technology, and other administrative services. The shared-services structure will enable Tosoh’s European companies to focus their resources on sales and marketing.
A Tosoh spokesperson states that “the current reorganization is in line with earlier reorganizations in the United States and Singapore, aiming at streamlining the organizations per region and providing shared-services platforms in each region. As Tosoh’s globalization continues, a strong backbone is necessary for further expansion, and the shared services model allows stronger administrative functions at a lower cost. The new organization structures have provided for better cash management and thus reduced debt. Under the present challenging operating environment, we believe that eliminating redundancy and reducing costs will better support our growing operations in Europe.”
Our European reorganization sees Tosoh Bioscience branches in France, Germany, and the Netherlands change their names to Tosoh Europe N.V. Tosoh Bioscience subsidiaries in Italy, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland, however, will retain their names, as will the separations operations in Germany of Tosoh Bioscience GmbH. Our joint ventures Tosoh Hellas, in Thessaloniki, Greece, and Delamine, in Delfzijl, the Netherlands, and the UK plant of Tosoh Quartz, Inc., are not involved in the reorganization. Tosoh customers, meanwhile, will benefit from the changes but can be assured that all products, people, and sales departments at each Tosoh operation in Europe will be the same.
Tosoh Corporation and the Tosoh Group continue to innovate to better serve customers. We remain, moreover, dedicated to strategically building a business structure that is profitable under even the most challenging conditions.
Tosoh Group European Operations
Tosoh established a presence in Europe in the early 1970s amid a strategic move to set up international bases for its products and technologies. In 1973, a joint venture among Tekkosha and Mitsubishi Corporation to produce and distribute electrolytic manganese dioxide (EMD) was realized with the establishment of Tosoh Hellas AIC in Thessaloniki, Greece. Tosoh’s subsequent, 1975 merger with Tekkosha led to the establishment of Tosoh Hellas as its first European subsidiary. From that beginning, Tosoh is today the world’s largest producer of EMD and accounts for 25% of EMD that supplies the world’s production of dry cell batteries.
In 1976, Tosoh added Delamine B.V., a joint venture with Akzo Nobel, to its European operations. Tosoh also established Tosoh Europe B.V. in 1976 to serve as the representative office of the Tosoh Group in Europe and as a distributor of ethyleneamines. Tosoh Europe B.V. later added to its product portfolio, such specialty materials as zirconia and zeolites, rubber products, and fine chemicals.
Tosoh’s initial life sciences operation in Europe, Tosoh Bioscience N.V., was originally known as Eurogenetics when Tosoh acquired equity in that firm in 1986. It has become the distributor of Tosoh’s automated immunoassay (AIA) analyzers for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) and has subsidiaries in Switzerland, Italy, and the United Kingdom and branches in France, Germany, and the Netherlands. It will now become the shared services provider and the parent company for Tosoh’s European presence as Tosoh Europe N.V.
The 1987 establishment in Germany of the TosoHaas GmbH joint venture by Tosoh and Rohm & Haas extended Tosoh’s European life sciences operations. Tosoh made the joint venture a wholly owned subsidiary in 2000, and the company was renamed Tosoh Bioscience GmbH. Tosoh Bioscience GmbH is the EMEA distributor for Tosoh’s leading-edge separation media.
Tosoh Quartz, Inc., which has been in operation in the United States since 1957, extended its global reach when it consolidated Nippon Silica Glass Co., Ltd., in the United Kingdom under the global Tosoh Quartz umbrella in 2001. Nippon Silica Glass had been operating in Europe since 1992, and now as a branch of Tosoh Quartz produces quartz glassware for the semiconductor industry for use in processing integrated circuits.
TOSOH CORPORATION
WHO WE ARE
Tosoh Corporation is a Japanese chemical company established in 1935 and listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. It is the parent of the Tosoh Group, which comprises 140 companies worldwide and a multiethnic workforce of over 11,000 people and generated net sales of ¥827.4 billion (US$8.3 billion at the year-end rate of ¥100.19 to the US dollar) in fiscal 2007, ended March 31, 2008.
WHAT WE DO
Tosoh is one of the largest chlor-alkali manufacturers in Asia. The Company supplies the plastic resins and an array of the basic chemicals that support modern life. Tosoh’s petrochemical operations supply ethylene, polymers, and polyethylene, while its electronic materials business serves the global semiconductor and flat-panel display industries. Tosoh has also pioneered sophisticated bioscience systems that are used for the rapid diagnosis of life-threatening diseases, such as diabetes and certain cancers, and to prevent epidemics by identifying pathogenic microbes. In addition, Tosoh develops products and provides services to purify water and to monitor the environment as part of a commitment to a sustainable future.
Stock Exchange Ticker Symbol: 4042
Tosoh Bioscience Division
What is now the Bioscience Division of Tosoh Corporation began operations as the Scientific Instruments Division in 1971 with the launch of Tosoh’s first TSK-GEL column for high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) systems. Over nearly four decades since, Tosoh’s chromatographic products have evolved from the measurement and analysis of polymers and organic compounds to leading-edge bioscience developments in the analysis, separation, and purification of proteins. Tosoh Bioscience’s fully automated systems incorporate the latest immunoassay technologies to rapidly diagnose life-threatening diseases, such as diabetes and certain cancers. The product lineup includes AIA analyzers; glycohemoglobin HPLC analyzers; separation media (TOYOPEARL); and HPLC columns (TSK-GEL). Tosoh has also extended its scientific instruments product line to include transcription reverse transcription concerted reaction (TRC) nucleic acid amplification testing (NAT) reagents and devices with the launch of the TRCRapid-160 real-time fluorescence monitoring system and TRC reagent. This system enables genetic testing to diagnose and screen for infectious diseases and cancer.
Tosoh Bioscience Operations Worldwide as of March 19, 2009
Tosoh Bioscience Division, Tokyo, Japan
Tosoh Europe N.V., Tessenderlo, Belgium, with branches in France, Germany, and the Netherlands
Tosoh Bioscience SRL, Torino, Italy
Tosoh Bioscience S.A., Littau-Luzern, Switzerland
Tosoh Bioscience Ltd., Redditch, United Kingdom
Tosoh Bioscience GmbH, Stuttgart, Germany
Tosoh Bioscience, Inc., South San Francisco, United States
Tosoh Bioscience LLC, Pennsylvania, United States
Tosoh (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., Shanghai, China
Regional Logistics Centers
North America: Tosoh Bioscience Ohio Logistics Center, Ohio, United States
Europe and Middle East: European Logistics Platform, Tessenderlo, Belgium
Asia: Nanyo Complex, Yamaguchi, Japan
Manufacturing and Servicing
Tosoh AIA, Inc., Toyama, Japan
Tosoh Hi-Tec, Inc., Yamaguchi, Japan
Tosoh Techno-System, Inc., Tokyo, Japan
For more information and access to all Tosoh Bioscience companies:
www.tosohbioscience.com
For more information in general, please contact
Michael Hoover
International Corporate Development
Tosoh Corporation
michael.hoover@tosoh.com
Tel: +81-3-5427-5118
Fax: +81-3-5427-5198
www.tosoh.com