Kumho Asiana Group set to complete legal separation from Kumho Petrochemical

(Plastemart) -- Kumho Asiana Group, led by chairman Park Sam-koo, is set to complete on Wednesday its legal separation from Kumho Petrochemical Group headed by his brother Chan-koo. As per heraldm.com, Kumho Asiana Group, with Kumho Industrial, Asiana Airlines, Kumho Tire and others under its wing, will now be a separate conglomerate from Kumho Petrochemical Group, consisting of Kumho Petrochemical, Kumho Mitsui Chemicals and Kumho Polychem.

Park Sam-koo and his son Se-chang began the block sale of all of their shares in Kumho Petrochemical worth 409 billion won through Daewoo Securities and Nomura Securities. A 5.3% stake held by the senior Park, or 1.34 million shares, and a 5.15% stake (1.3 million shares) owned by his son were sold to around 100 institutional investors.

Chairman Park Sam-koo plans to use the money from the sale to increase paid-in capital of Kumho Industrial, the de facto holding company of Kumho Asiana Group, and Kumho Tire in an attempt to return as the major shareholder. The Park brothers have had a years-long feud over the management of Kumho affiliates.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- Haldia Petrochemicals is working out an action plan to avoid falling into the BIFR (Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction) fold, as per the Hindu. Since a 50% erosion in peak net worth will push the company into BIFR, HPL is striving hard to check the loss-making trend. HPL had a peak net worth of Rs.2,844 crore in 2007-08 which got eroded to Rs.2,097 crore on March 31, 2010, and could dip to Rs.1,422 crore, reflecting a 50 per cent erosion in the peak net worth.
The company closed its first-half of 2011-12 with a net loss of Rs.418 crore, which is estimated to have mounted to around Rs.600 crore. If the company ends 2001-12 with a loss of Rs.675 crore, it will not be able to stave off the BIFR reporting.

The spectre of a mandatory reporting comes amid speculation surrounding the issue of the sale of residual shares by the State Government, which holds the key to the settlement of the ownership dispute between the Chatterjee Group and the West Bengal Government. Lenders are now expressing concern about taking further exposure as HPL's debt service ratio is now below 1, indicating that margins are inadequate to service debts.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- Sasol Ltd plans to invest US$4.5 bln to build a plant usin low-cost natural gas to make ethylene and related chemicals in Louisiana. The board of directors has approved a feasibility study on a possible ethane cracker and ethylene derivatives complex in Lake Charles.

The feasibility study is estimated to be completed by June 2013. The investment outlay is estimated at US$3.5-4.5 bln for ethylene capacity estimated between 1-1.4 mln tpa. ⌠The rapid development of the shale gas industry in North America and the resulting decoupling of the crude oil and natural gas prices have created several opportunities for growth for Sasol in both fuels and chemicals, the company said in a statement.

In particular, the availability of significant volumes of natural gas liquids, and specifically ethane, has opened up opportunities in the ethane feedstock area for cracker-based chemicals.

Sasol joins Dow Chemical Co, Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, among others, who are studying whether to build ethane crackers in the US.

MRC

(THE NATION) -- IRPC has earmarked Bt70 billion to invest in its Phoenix as well as non-Phoenix and maintenance projects from 2012 to 2016, with revenue contribution from the Phoenix projects targeted to double to 60 per cent from about 30 per cent currently.

The Phoenix Project is the name of IRPC's investment plan aimed at making the integrated oil and petrochemical manufacturer the petrochemical leader in Asia by 2014.

President Atikom Terbsiri said yesterday that about Bt60 billion of the Bt70-billion budget was for Phoenix and non-Phoenix projects and the remaining Bt10 billion for maintenance.

The biggest Phoenix project for IRPC is the expansion of propylene capacity by 420,000 tonnes to 740,000 tonnes per year from the current 320,000 tonnes, which needs a budget of US$990 million (Bt30.8 billion).

The first propylene expansion phase, on which IRPC has already spent about $90 million to increase output by 100,000 tonnes, started this year. The new capacity will come on stream in the second quarter of next year, taking IRPC's propylene production capacity to 420,000 tonnes per year.

The company will next invest $900 million to expand propylene capacity by 320,000 tonnes by 2016.

IRPC will also benefit from the new capacity for propylene and treated distillate aromatic extract, which will be increased to 50,000 tonnes per year from 20,000 currently, she said.

The company will also recognise a full year of revenue from the combined heat and power plant project. The power plant is expected to generate revenue of Bt80 million to Bt100 million per month or as much as Bt1.2 billion per year.

MRC

(Arabian oil and gas) -- The Iranian government has shrugged off the latest round of oil sanctions, saying they will cause greater problems outside the country than within. Iranian oil minister Rostam Qasemi told Iran's Tehran Times that sanctioning Iranian crude will cause problem in oil markets. His remarks were echoed by NOC head Ahmad Qalebai, who told the Mehr news agency ⌠⌠Iran possesses massive oil and gas reserves... Thus ignoring Iran in oil and gas exchange will not be acceptable (by the international community).

Qasemi also told state media that the role of foreign companies in the country's oil sector will be further restricted for at least five years. News of the sanctions has kept Brent prices around $110 a barrel.

The US, UK and Canadian governments agreed a tough sanctions regime against Tehran on 22 November, including an oil import ban and severe restrictions of the Iranian central bank's activities. The UK's sanctions included a ban in any financial dealings between British and Iranian banks.

The sanctions were prompted by a report by the United Nations nuclear watchdog that gave increased credence to claims Ira's nuclear program includes the manufacture of atomic weapons.

However, officials in the US are confident that the current roster of sanctions is hitting the Ahmadinejad regime hard. ⌠Iran has been increasingly unable to attract foreign investment, especially in its oil fields, leading to a projected loss of $14 billion a year in oil revenues through 2016, David Cohen, the US Treasury's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, told the U.S. Senate Banking Committee in early October, before the latest round of financial sanctions were initiated.

MRC