History

CalaChem has a rich heritage in the chemical industry stretching back over 90 years.

Manufacturing on our Grangemouth Site begun in 1919 by textile businessman James Morton (1867 – 1943) who founded Scottish Dyes Ltd.

From 1928, the site was under the ownership of ICI, which became Britain’s most powerful chemical group. Under the stewardship of ICI the product range was diversified from dyestuffs and pigments into pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and other specialties such as biocides and paint additives.

When ICI broke up in 1993 the site became part of Zeneca, in 1999 the Specialities business group of Zeneca was acquired by a venture capital consortium to form the leading bioscience company Avecia.

In 2004, Avecia began the sale of its portfolio businesses and in September 2005 KemFine, a Finnish-based fine chemical company, acquired Avecia Fine Chemicals Limited.

In 2010 Munich based investment company Aurelius AG acquired KemFine UK Ltd, and CalaChem Ltd was born.