CHEMICAL AND ENGINEERING
NEWS
the newsmagazine off the chemical world VOLUME 37. NUMBER 2 8
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JULY 13, 1959
Victor Goes to Stauffer Proposed m e r g e r puts Stauffer g r o u p in the Big 10 of the chemi cal industry; combined 1 9 5 9 sales will e x c e e d $ 2 2 5 million JLAST Tuesday, the board of directors of Victor Chemical, sitting in Chicago, agreed in principal to become a part of Stauffer Chemical, whose board of directors had taken similar action a week earlier. Subject t o stockholder approval—of w h i c h there is little doubt —the proposed merger would result in an enterprise whose sales this year will probably exceed $225 million.
Stauffer of Stauffer Chemical Merger with Victor would m o v e . · . The move thus laid to rest rumors about Victor mergers that h a v e been common in recent years (latest talks— with Hercules Powder—were broken off about a month a g o ) . Victor has not fared as well as the chemical industry as a w h o l e in recent years. In 1949, the company's gross sales were $ 2 9 million, profits S2.9 million. By last year sales reached $ 5 2 million, profits $3.5 million. T h e move will bring together Victor's operations in phosphates and allied products with Stauffer's position in basic industrial and agricultural chemicals. Overlap in products is small between the two, comes mainly through Stauffer's work in phosphorus—Trithion insecticide, for
example—and boron phosphorus com pounds for the missile fuels program. The merger plans call for an ex change of one share of Stauffer com mon for each share of Victor common. Stauffer will issue about 1.7 million shares in addition to its 7.2 million shares now outstanding. Victor β'/ο',*· $100 par value preferred sha_res will probably become 3 1 /2r/
