US bleach maker sold to Caribbean firm

Ansa McAL of Trinidad and Tobago has acquired Bleachtech, a US maker of bleach (sodium hypochlorite) and other chlor-alkali chemicals for water treatment, for $327 million. Ansa says it is the leading chlor-alkali producer in the English-speaking Caribbean. It makes the chemicals in Jamaica, mainly for water treatment in the 20 countries that make up the Caribbean Community. Formed in 2001, Bleachtech operates facilities in Seville, Ohio, and Petersburg, Virginia. It uses a unique process that converts salt into sodium hypochlorite, sodium hydroxide, and hydrochloric acid without the accumulation of free chlorine. For safety reasons, water treatment facilities have been switching from chlorine to bleach as a disinfecting chemical.