Dart Container buys Solo Cup

(canplastics) -- In a deal between two of North America's largest thermoformers, Dart Container Corporation is purchasing Solo Cup Company for USD1 billion.

Both U.S.-based companies are in the consumer and foodservice disposable packaging business.

Illinois-based Solo Cup is being sold for USD315 million along with USD700 million in debt. Dart Container, headquartered in Mason, Mich., said it expects the deal to close by the third quarter of 2012, subject to regulatory approval. Dart expects to continue offering products under the Solo brand.

⌠Our acquisition of Solo will allow us to provide even greater value to our customers in the future, said Dart Container CEO Robert C. Dart. ⌠It will enable customers to purchase a wider range of products, made from a greater variety of materials with varying functional and environmental attributes ≈ all from a single vendor. Both companies have an extensive history in the industry and will bring together valuable experience, traditions and complementary, high-quality products.

MRC

(hydrocarbonprocessing) -- W.R. Grace & Co. has entered into an agreement with Dow Chemical to develop new catalysts for polypropylene production, officials said on Thursday.

The catalysts, which use one of Dow's non-phthalate internal donor technologies and Grace proprietary catalyst expertise, will be sold by Grace under the HYAMPP brand.

HYAMPP catalysts are non-phthalate catalysts with industry-leading activity and performance benefits, and represent sixth-generation technology.

They enable producers to make resins that improve the performance of plastics, including better clarity, stiffness and impact strength, providing a pathway to new applications requiring more demanding properties that cannot be met by current generation catalysts.

Customers can use the resins in a broad range of applications such as films, high-performance pipe, automobile parts, household appliances and household containers. Grace expects to begin commercial production of the new catalysts in 2012, it said.

⌠We are continuously looking for ways to better meet the needs of our customers and the end-users of their products, said Tony Dondero, vice president and general manager of Grace's specialty catalysts and process technologies product line.
MRC

(hydrocarbonprocessing) -- Pakistan said Thursday it would seek Russian funding for a multi-billion dollar gas pipeline from Iran amid Chinese reluctance to invest in the project over fears it could be hit by sanctions.

The quest for alternative sources of funds began when the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China failed to sign up to a consortium to finance Pakistan's USD1.5 billion share of the project.

"Pakistan's technical delegation will visit Moscow early next month to have discussions on this subject," said foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Basit.

The Pakistan team will hold talks with relevant officials and different companies, including Russian gas giant Gazprom, Basit said.

A petroleum ministry official confirmed that Russia was a possible source of funding, given that there has still been no formal response from ICBC.

The United States wants Islamabad to abandon the project because of sanctions against Iran over its controversial nuclear program, but Pakistan has insisted it is vital in helping to overcome a debilitating energy crisis.

Pakistan and Iran signed a deal in 2010 in which Tehran would supply natural gas to its eastern neighbor from 2014, with sales to reach 750 million cubic feet (21 million cubic meters) to one billion cubic feet per day by mid-2015.

Pakistan, which produces just 80% of its own electricity needs, has presented the USD7.5 billion gas project as a partial answer to the energy crisis, which has led to blackouts and has suffocated industry.
MRC

(plastemart) -- PVC offers out of the US continued to firm up in many regions in line with the global upward trend that has been in place since the beginning of the year.

As for April, America's own market dynamics are also supporting the firming trend for PVC in global markets. The domestic market has witnessed strong PVC demand amidst tight availability stemming from planned and unplanned shutdowns. These factors along with rising production costs have, needless to say, provided ground for domestic sellers to raise their PVC offers while American producers have also adjusted their offers upwards for export markets.

However, they are currently seeing restrained buying interest in many regions. In China, an international trader reported its April sell ideas for US PVC with a USD100/ton increase over their March done deal prices. He blamed tight availability in the US and firm production costs for the rise in his sell ideas. The trader added, "Our allocation to China is limited for April as demand from Chinese buyers remains poor and the prevailing market level in China stands below other markets."

This relative shortage of American cargoes has helped major Asian suppliers achieve done deals at or close to their initial offers for April, according to another trader. In the meantime, the competitive domestic market, which trades well below imports, is also playing a role in Chinese buyers' reluctance to purchase US cargoes.

MRC

(fibre2fashion) -- The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) will be building a petrochemical complex having a capacity to produce 550,000 tons of polypropylene, which is widely used in the textile industry, Vice President of SOCAR, Tofig Gahramanov, has announced.

SOCAR will be constructing the oil and gas processing plant and petrochemical complex at an estimated total cost of EUR13 billion, near the capital Baku.

While 30 percent of the capital would be invested by the Azerbaijan Government and SOCAR, the remaining amount would be private investment.

The petrochemical complex is likely to be commissioned by 2020. Besides its own thermal power plant, it will have 30 processing plants to process 10 million tons of oil and 10 billion cu m of gas.

Mr. Gahramanov estimated the payback period of the project to be 6-7 years. He said companies from Japan, Korea, Italy and the US have also shown interest in investing in the petrochemical complex to be set up by SOCAR, which is one of the largest oil companies in the world.


MRC