Honam Petrochemical to take over Titan Chemicals for US$ 1.25 bln

(plastemart) -- South Korea's Honam Petrochemical will pay about US$1.25 bln in cash to acquire Titan Chemicals Corporation. Following an initial takeover of 72.6% of the shares held by Titan head and the state-run Permoladan Nasional, Honam plans to squeeze out the remaining shareholders. The takeover propels Honam, the petrochemical division of Korea's Lotte Group into the league of leading Asian ethylene manufacturers. The company's C2 capacity, currently at 1.75 mln tpa will rise to about 2.5 mln tpa as a result, while revenues are expected to increase to EUR 8 bln.

Titan is considered to be Malaysia's largest olefin and polyolefin manufacturer. Since its 2006 takeover of Indonesian polyethylene producer PT Petrokimia Nusantara (PT Peni, Jakarta), the Malay company is widely believed to be South East Asia's second-largest polyolefin manufacturer. Titan operates 10 plants at its Malay production sites in Pasir Gudang and Tanjung Langsat, as well as in Indonesia. Company sales last amounted to US$ 1.64 bln. All in all, Titan has capacities for 1 mln tpa of PE, 480,000 tpa of PP, 100,000 tpa of butadiene and 38,000 tpa of BOPP film.

MRC

(China Knowledge) -- Formosa Petrochemical Corp, the largest petrochemical conglomerate in Taiwan, announced yesterday that its net profit for the first half of this year was NT$21.21 billion, up 36% from the NT$15.56 billion it earned in the same period of last year.

In a statement filed with the Taiwan Stock Exchange, the firm said that earnings per share during the period from January to June were NT$2.23, up from NT$1.63 in the same period of last year.

In the six-month ended on Jun. 30, revenue was NT$410.46 billion, said the firm. But it did not give the comparable figure for the same period of last year.

Formosa Petrochemical realized NT$10.97 billion in net profit for the first quarter of this year.

MRCMRC Reference

Formosa

The share in the Russian market in 2008:
PVC-S - 3.0%;

PP - 0.4%.

Annual growth sales in Russia :
PVC - 79 % (over the last year) ;

PP - 272 % (over the last 3 years).

Supply by processing technologies:
profile extrusion

film extrusion

(Reuters) -- Specialty chemicals giant LyondellBasell Industries NV (LALLF.PK) will end its operations in Iran to avoid penalties the U.S. could soon impose on companies for violating trade sanctions, the Wall Street Journal said.

Lyondell's board approved the decision to end its Iranian operations early this month after months of deliberation, David Harpole, a spokesman for LyondellBasell, told the Journal.

The Dutch-based company's move will end licensing of its proprietary technology and services to Iranian petrochemical companies, the paper said.

MRCMRC Reference

LyondellBasell. The share in the Russian market in 2008:
PE - 1.4% (including HDPE - 2.5%, LDPE - 0.3%);
PP - 4.1% (including block-copolymers - 9.5%).

Annual sales growth in Russia, during the recent 5 years:
PE - 27%;
PP - 88%.

The leader in the following polymers processing technologies:

pipe extrusion;

film extrusion;

injection molding

(BUSINESS WIRE) -- In the second quarter of 2010, NOVA Chemicals generated net income of $51 million compared to a net loss of $83 million for the second quarter of 2009. For the six months ended June 30, 2010, we generated net income of $145 million versus a net loss of $206 million for the six months ended June 30, 2009. The year-over-year improvement during these three month and six month periods was primarily due to higher margins and demand for our products.

The Olefins/Polyolefins business unit generated $251 million of operating income in the second quarter of 2010 compared to operating income of $81 million during the second quarter of 2009. For the six months ended June 30, 2010, the business unit generated operating income of $437 million compared to operating income of $43 million for the six months ended June 30, 2009. The improvement in both comparisons was due to selling prices increasing more than feedstock costs, and improved demand.

MRC

(prw) -- Munich-based Baerlocher said it will install further capacity for the production of PVC heat stabilisers at its plant in Dewas, India to serve the growing domestic market.

The company will add 7,000 tonnes of capacity, which will double the plant's capacity for production of one-pack stabilisers. These will be low dusting flake stabilisers, used primarily by PVC pipe producers.

The new capacity will become operational in two stages beginning in December 2010. Baerlocher said the investment is worth nearly ┬1m.

It said the expansion will help support the continued growth of irrigation and water management projects throughout India.

MRC