Solvay Specialty Polymers is fully owned by Solvay S.A. – Belgium. The Company represents one Global Business Unit (GBU) created on 1^st April 2011 by merging four Leading Solvay Companies previously named: Solvay Solexis, Solvay Advanced Polymers, Solvay Padanaplast and SolVin PVDC.   

Solvay Specialty Polymers is now mainly focused on different special materials such as: Fluorinated Polymers, Aromatic Polymers, High-Barrier Polymers and Compounds.

The Company has its own major competences and is vertically integrated thanks to unique manufacturing technologies and a constant research effort. Solvay Specialty Polymers continuously develops new products for a wide range of high-tech applications.

 he Company operates worldwide and has its own Headquarter in Bollate, close to Milan (Italy). There are more than 10 R&D Centers worldwide, among them the greatest two are in Bollate focused on fluorinated materials (about 220 people) and in Alpharetta (US) focused on aromatic polymers (about 130 people). There are 14 production sites worldwide mainly in Europe, US and Asia.

Besides production sites, the Company has independent Commercial Offices also in Japan, Brazil, Korea, Taiwan, China and South Africa.

Within each location one or more production areas are dedicated to produce a series of intermediate and finished products[1] to cover over than 35 product brands.

Net sales in 2011 were 1251 M€, ~5% of net sales invested in research activities with a REBITDA/Sales of 28%.

The Company serves the following main markets:

• Automotive
• Consumer/Industrial
• Construction
• CPI
• Electrical/Electronics
• Energy
• Healthcare
• Mobility
• Smart devices
• Water

with a good balance of geographical sales distribution: 38% Europe, 27% Americas, 30% Asia and 5% Rest of World. 

As per May 2012 Solvay Specialty Polymers employees world-wide were 2630, among them around 430 people belong to the RD&T function (>16% total headcount), about 50% of them with a high-level education (University degree).

The main expertises available, all from a knowledge level from advanced to expert, are:

• Polymer Reaction Engineering
• Polymer Characterization
• Process Engineering
• Fluorine Chemistry
• Emulsion Polymerization
• Organic Chemistry
• Colloid Science
• Polymer Processing
• Specific polymer proc. (Paste Extrusion, Sintering, Powder Coating)
• Analytical & Structural Characterization

Almost all the manufacturing technologies of Solvay Specialty Polymers were developed internally thanks to a continuous RD&T effort. In this connection, the Company is paying a specific endeavour for constantly upgrading its IP positioning as witnessed by the increasing number of Patents field by year.

In the last 20 years Solvay Specialty Polymers filed more than 600 patents. Most of them are extended in the most industrialized country (USA, EU, Japan, etc...) giving rise to an I.P. portfolio with more than 5000 patents.