Covation Biomaterialsa private subsidiary of Huafon Group, launched on Wednesday after DuPont’s sale closed for about $240 million. The company, which has nearly 200 employees worldwide, will be based in new offices at the Iron Hill Corporate Center in Newark.
Biomaterials was a segment of DuPont dedicated to the discovery and production of materials made from renewable sources of biological origin. The Delaware business titan began exploring the business in May 2019 and struck a deal with Huafon in October 2020.
With net sales of around $200 million last year, the business had produced three branded products to date and is said to have a pipeline of “exciting bio-solutions” that Covation will now bring to market.
Current products include Sorona, a partially bio-based polymer that has been used in clothing and carpets; Susterra, a 100% vegetable high performance glycol used in a variety of industries, from footwear and outerwear to industrial coatings and inks; and Zemea, a plant-based and biodegradable material used in personal care, home care, pharmaceuticals, and more.
“We have long admired the work done by this team of scientists and biomaterials developers who are developing sustainable and cutting-edge materials available at scale,” said Feifeng You, Vice President of Huafon Group and Chairman of the Board of Directors. of Covation, in a press release. statement announcing the new company. “The addition of Covation Biomaterials to the Huafon Group will bring bio-based materials to an even broader global customer base and lead the materials industry towards a sustainable future. We are excited about the bright future of this company.
Leading the new company as CEO will be a familiar face to former DuPonters: Michael Saltzbergwho was previously global business manager at DuPont Biomaterials.
“As a provider of bio-based materials solutions, we are an important gateway to a more circular economy. Sustainable supply chains must start with sustainable materials, and our science enables our customers to end their overreliance on petroleum,” Saltzberg said in a statement. “By collaborating with value chain partners and forward-thinking brands globally, we will continue to push the boundaries of innovation and sustainability to deliver high-performance biomaterials at scale.”
“We are excited to join the Huafon Group, a highly successful materials company uniquely positioned to expand the reach of our current products and help us accelerate the introduction of new offerings and technologies to market,” added Saltzberg.
Huafon was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Ruian, a county-level city along China’s central coast under the administration of neighboring Wenzhou City. It is one of the world’s largest producers of polyurethane materials along with a variety of other products. Today, it has more than 14,000 employees and has several subsidiaries around the world in the fields of chemicals, metals, finance, logistics, information technology and trade.
