Flux In French Fine Chemicals

Abstract

The symbolism was obvious, as was the irony, when Isochem’s dinner party set out from the Quay Henri IV in Paris in late November on board Yachts de Paris’ Victoria. The guests boarded at a dock on the River Seine directly across the street from the palatial, one-time headquarters of Isochem’s former parent company, state-owned SNPE. With SNPE retrenching to its original business in fuels and explosives, the grand headquarters on the quay is being converted into luxury condominiums with a view of the Ile Saint-Louis. Meanwhile, Isochem is setting sail as a private company after its acquisition in 2010 by the German venture capital group Aurelius. On board the Victoria, Xavier Jeanjean, Isochem’s sales director, expressed an exuberance shared by many on the cruise. No longer operating in the doubly lethargic milieu of a state-owned conglomerate, Isochem is now a midsize fine chemicals firm free to chart its own ...