US: With the housing market bottoming out and showing signs of recovery, demand for flame retardants will also begin to improve, according to a report from Global Information Inc.

It says that demand for flame retardants in the US is expected to grow by 4.6%/yr year to reach around US$1.5bn in 2016, a significant rebound as the industry benefits from an improving economy and a turnaround in key markets.

Global Information says that construction-related applications of flame-retardants will provide the biggest impetus to growth and continue to account for the greatest share of sales in the market for flame retardants. Boron and phosphorus-based flame retardants will expand at the fastest rates. Brominated compounds will benefit from use in polystyrene and polyurethane insulation.

Russia: Saint-Gobain has bought a 25.1% share in ISOROC, a Russian building materials company based in Tambov. The cost of the acquisition has not been announced nor has Saint-Gobain revealed who sold the shares. The transaction is in line with Saint-Gobain Group's expansion strategy that enables it to continue growing its insulation activity in Russia.

ISOROC is a leader in the central region of Russia for mineral wool products, the most commonly used insulation material in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The company reported revenues of Euro46m in 2011.

According to the SPARK database, Germany's Erste AMSC Unternehmensbeteiligungs GmbH owned 37.94% of ISOROC as of 7 September 2012, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) owned 35.93% and Rabo Black Earth B.V. owned 7.18%.

Saint-Gobain previously announced in June 2012 that it had acquired British insulating foam producer Celotex to strengthen its position in the UK insulation market.

Egypt: GlassRock Insulation Co. has started targeting exports of mineral wool to key markets in Europe, North Africa, the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and Turkey following the start of production at its US$70m Egyptian greenfield facility in May 2012. The company, part of a portfolio owned by Citadel Capital's regional mining platform ASCOM, will also begin production of glass wool insulation in September 2012.

"Our goal is to become a world-class provider of heat and noise insulation solutions," said GlassRock Insulation chief executive officer Bechir Dardour. "Energy-efficient building materials are the only option going forward in Egypt and around the world and we are delighted to be part of the solution to the creation of a greener, more environmentally-friendly future."

Construction of the US$70m greenfield GlassRock plant, located eqhalf-way between Cairo and Alexandria in the Sadat City Free Zone, began in 2010. The facility has created 260 direct jobs and operates with technology licensed from Italy's Tenova. When fully operational GlassRock's production capacity will be 30,000Mt/yr of mineral wool and 20,000Mt/yr of glass wool.

UK: PipeHawk, a provider of advanced engineering solutions, has announced that its OM Systems subsidiary secured a contract with Kingspan to deliver a complete new production line, worth over Euro1.25m. The project comprises the provision of a turnkey automated production line to one of Kingspan's UK facilities and will be delivered during 2012-2013 financial year.