January 18, 2016 - The former caprolactam (capro) business of Dutch chemical major Royal DSM is currently operating under the name Fibrant, the firm said on Monday.  Headquartered in Geleen, the Netherlands, the company has also sites in China and the US.  The name change took place in December following the completion of a joint venture transaction between private equity fund CVC Capital Partners (65%) and DSM (35%) to acquire DSM’s global caprolactam activities.  “It is an honor and a pleasure to be able to announce the official launch of our new name Fibrant. Every day Fibrant employees will do their utmost to enable our customer’s success in their respective businesses,” said Pol Deturck, the firm’s CEO.  “We are excited to continue to serve our customers under the new name and build further on our heritage as a premium supplier.”

May 9, 2013 - DSM will gradually restart its 250,000 tonne/year caprolactam (capro) plant in Geleen, the Netherlands, from Wednesday 15 May, a source at the petrochemical major said on Thursday.  The company declared force majeure at the plant following a fire on 23 April, a company source previously confirmed.  The plant had been expected to remain offline for roughly one month. Nevertheless, progress with electrical work has meant the plant will be brought on line slowly from next Wednesday, the company source said.  European capro producers had been targeting aggressive price rises by as much as €120/tonne ($158/tonne) in May contracts in the wake of the force majeure declaration, in anticipation of limited availability in Europe throughout the month as a result.  The plant outage also resulted in the suspension of DSM’s sulphuric acid production, and has meant that they are not consuming sulphur for the time being. The force majeure was also declared to DSM’s phenol suppliers.