A newly formed joint venture of Japanese firms Kenka Co. Limited and Mitsui & Co. has acquired DuPont’s Neoprene business and will establish its new corporate headquarters in LaPlace, company and state officials announced today.
Denka Performance Elastomer will establish the headquarters at DuPont’s former LaPlace site, retaining 235 existing jobs and creating 16 new corporate executive positions. DuPont will continue to operate its separately owned Kevlar business at the site. Denka announced the acquisition in December of last year and recently completed the deal, financial terms of which are not being disclosed.
Louisiana Economic Development began discussing the project with Denka in February. The state is providing the company an incentive package that includes workforce assistance via LED’s FastStart program. The company is also expected to benefit from the state’s Quality Jobs Program, which provides a cash rebate of up to 6% of the company’s payroll on new jobs created for 10 years.
Neoprene, invented by DuPont in 1931, is a synthetic rubber used for many chemical and weather-resistant products such as wet suits and orthopedic braces. It also is used as a base resin in adhesives, electrical insulation and coatings. LED has more details on today’s announcement.
