Westlake Chemical transitions to unified brand name, Westlake Corp.
Official name change reflects the company’s more diversified business portfolio stemming from four key acquisitions and overall growth in product offerings in composites, infrastructure, consumer, medical and others.
Photo Credit, all images: Westlake Corp.
Westlake Chemical Corp. (Houston, Texas, U.S.) has announced plans to officially change its name to Westlake Corp., effective on Feb. 18, 2022. The decision organizes the company under one unified brand name with two financial reporting segments: Housing and Infrastructure Products and Performance and Essential Materials.
“We have reached an important milestone in the history of our company,” says Westlake president and CEO, Albert Chao. “Our business portfolio has evolved over the last decade, particularly in the last year when we celebrated our 35th anniversary. Through a combination of strategic acquisitions and organic growth that has been fueled by market trends, particularly in the rapidly expanding housing and infrastructure sector, we have made significant progress in diversifying our businesses and broadening our product offering. By changing our name, we will better represent the breadth of industries we serve, including housing and construction, automotive and consumer lifestyle, packaging and healthcare.”
Westlake completed a series of acquisitions during 2021, including Lasco Fittings LLC, a manufacturer of injection-molded PVC fittings; Dimex LLC, a producer of post-industrial recycled plastic consumer and building products; and Boral Ltd.’s North American building products businesses, which include roofing, siding, trim, shutters, outdoor living products, decorative stone and windows. These acquisitions have significantly enhanced the company’s position in the housing and infrastructure markets and have greatly expanded its overall product offering. In addition, Westlake recently closed the acquisition of the global epoxy business of Hexion Inc. (Columbus, Ohio, U.S.) a supplier of coatings and composites used in high-growth applications like wind turbine blades and automotive structural components.
Westlake’s two newly established reporting segments replace the former segments, Olefins and Vinyls. Housing and Infrastructure Products includes Westlake Royal Building Products, Westlake Pipe and Fittings, Westlake Global Compounds and Westlake Dimex. Performance and Essential Materials includes Westlake North American Vinyls, Westlake North American Chlor-alkali and Derivatives, Westlake European and Asian Chlorovinyls, Westlake Olefins, Westlake Polyethylene and Westlake Epoxy.
Westlake is also increasing its focus on breakthroughs for essential materials to support the energy transition and meet customer demands. Some initiatives include composites used to manufacture wind turbine blades and lightweight automotive components, and consumer and building products made from post-industrial-recycled polymers.
“As Westlake’s business continues to grow globally, serving multiple industries, what has not changed is our unwavering commitment to the communities where our 16,000 employees work and live, our insistence on high-quality products and services for our customers, and our unrelenting focus on safety and the environment,” continues Chao. “We are committed to delivering consistent, durable and increasingly sustainable products to customers, while also remaining steadfast in creating value for our shareholders. We believe our new name and segmentation better reflects where our company is today and positions us well for continued long-term success.”
The Company's common stock will continue to trade under the ticker symbol “WLK” on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Holders of stock certificates bearing the prior corporate name need not take any action at this time. Such stock certificates continue to be valid and do not need to be exchanged.
