Solvay's bid to become a world leader reached the finishing line

(Expatica) -- Belgian chemicals giant Solvay's bid to become a world leader reached the finishing line on Friday, when EU anti-trust regulators cleared its 3.4-billion-euro (USD 4.8-billion) takeover of France's Rhodia.

The European Commission said checks "concluded that the proposed transaction would not raise competition concerns because a sufficient number of competitors will remain active on all markets concerned."

Brussels regulators decided that "there will be a number of credible and significant competitors who will continue to exercise a competitive constraint on the merged entity in each of the relevant markets."

The EU decision was the last remaining hurdle to the new business, expected to have annual sales of some 12 billion euros, benefitting from an increased exposure to emerging markets, thanks to Rhodia's stronger presence in Brazil and China.

The deal was expected to bring annual cost savings of EUR 250 million within three years.

MRC

(Bayer) -- In light of the catastrophic drought in East Africa, Bayer has provided immediate aid in the form of a EUR 100.000 donation to the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP).

The UN World Food Programme is the world's largest humanitarian agency and needs to provide food assistance to more than eleven million people in East Africa. Through airlifts to Mogadishu WFP is delivering special food for undernourished children in the region. Approximatly 500,000 refugees in reception camps in Kenya are also being supported by the WFP. A

Bayer's donation is being handled by its Kenya-based subsidiary Bayer East Africa. Alongside these immediate measures, Bayer is currently sounding out other projects that could make a long-term contribution in the region.

MRC

(ICIS) -- Polyethylene (PE) buyers in Europe are in no hurry to settle prices for August as upstream volatility continues to affect crude oil pricing and demand remains soft, in spite of bullish talk from producers that are targeting price increases, several said on Monday.

Food packaging, which has so far weathered the storm of poor demand, is beginning to be affected. UK-based Premier Foods reported an unprecedented slump in half-year profits earlier this month, blaming ⌠a combination of reduced consumer spending and significant raw-material inflation. The southern European buyer of PE for food packaging said that most of its manufacturing was for distribution within Europe as a whole, and that all regions had shown a drop in demand.
Another buyer told the same story.


Some PE producers in Europe made public price-hike announcements, with Dow looking for an increase of EUR 100/tonne (USD 143/tonne) in August. Others talked of plus EUR 50/tonne.


MRC

(ICIS) -- Asian petrochemical shares closed sharply lower on Monday, in line with heavy losses across regional bourses, on concerns that the global economy is on the brink of another downturn.
Shares of Japan's petrochemical majors fell at the close of trading, with Mitsui Chemicals falling 3.24%, Mitsubishi Chemical down 1.59% and Asahi Kasei slipping 2.09%.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index shed 202.32 points or 2.18% to settle at 9,097.56. In South Korea, LG Chemical slumped 4.91% and Hanwha Chemical declining 4.27%, with the KOSPI composite index declined 3.82% or 74.30 points at 1,869.45. In Hong Kong, PetroChina settled 3.09% lower, with the Hang Seng index settled at 20,490.57, down 455.57 points or 2.17% from Friday's close.

The downgrade of US' credit ratings by Standard & Poor's (S&P), days after the world's biggest economy averted a debt default weighed down on the overall market sentiment.

In China's styrene butadiene rubber market, the mood has turned cautious on the back of the global stock market plunge, with traders retreating on the sidelines awaiting clearer direction

MRC

(ICIS) -- The US could be veering towards another recession, petrochemical market participants said on Friday, as a massive sell-off in chemical stocks became the latest sign of a slowdown.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 513 points on Thursday, its worst day since the 680 drop in December 2008. Chemical stocks were hit particularly hard during Thursday's sell-off, with several falling by more than 7%.

The decline was the latest in a series of bad news, which overshadowed what has largely been a strong earnings season for North American chemical companies.

In July, a statistic that measures the growth of the US manufacturing sector fell to its lowest point since the end of the recession. Manufacturing activity barely grew in July, according to that statistic, the purchasing managers index (PMI) of the Institute for Supply Management (ISM).

MRC