LyondellBasell's business better than expected

(plastemart) -- Due to better than expected business, LyondellBasell Industries NV has about US$4.4 bln of liquidity available, more than the US$3 bln deemed appropriate in its plan for exiting bankruptcy. The company that emerged from bankruptcy in April, has about US$1.4 bln more cash and equivalents than planned, with no plans to decide how to spend it. The company has generated excess cash partly because the reduction of debt during the restructuring process has cut annual interest payments by US$1.7 bln and the elimination of 3,000 employees and plant closings has decreased fixed costs by US$1 bln. The new board has met once and will decide in the coming months on changes to the capital structure, how much cash to hold and what to do with the rest, Chief Executive Officer Jim Gallogly said.

A representative of LyondellBasell top management is going to participate in Russian Polymers Summit on October 14, 2010 organized by ICIS and MRC. For more information please refer to http://www.icisconference.com/russianpolymers/ Summit official web page.

MRC

(plastemart) -- The Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals (DCPC) has cleared an application of Brahmaputra Cracker and Polymer Limited (BCPL) for issue of project import certificate. BCPL had applied to DCPC for issue of project import certificate under Custom heading 98.01 for availing duty concession for the import of capital goods. BCPL had submitted a list of capital goods, based on the purchase orders placed by it on various foreign manufacturers and suppliers. After examining BCPL's request, DCPC has recommended issue of Project Import Certificate under Custom heading 98.01 of the Custom Tariff Act for import of capital goods of Freight on Board (FOB) value USD 8,80,000.

BCPL holds the IEM No. 3319/SIA/IMO/2008' for manufacture of 2,20,000 MTPA ethylene, 60,000 MTPA propylene, 2,20,000 MTPA HDPE, LLDPE, 60,000 MTPA polypropylene at its Lepetkata plant in Dibrugarh district. The project has been accorded excise duty exemption and exemption on IT services for 10 years. The project has also been sanctioned capital subsidy of Rs 2138 crore and feedstock subsidy of Rs 908.91 crore.

MRC

(plastemart) -- After a three-year delay caused by the credit squeeze during the global financial crisis, a US$1.56 bln financing package for Jurong Aromatics' new petrochemicals project in Singapore was finally launched with strong support from Korea. The coordinating banks for the project are ING and Royal Bank of Scotland. The borrower is being advised by ING. The US$2.4 bln project involves development of a condensate splitter and aromatics facility on Jurong Island, with production capacity of 1.5 mln tpa aromatics and 2.5 mln tons of fuel. Construction is scheduled to start in early 2011 and the plant is expected to come on stream in 2014.

The major investors of the project are Korea's SK Group, with a 30% stake, Chinese polyester maker Jiangsu Sanfangxiang Group, which holds 25%, Glencore International with a 10% share in the project, Arovin and Shefford Investments (equity investment houses based in India) with about 10% stake each, 5% stake held by the Economic Development Board of Singapore and the balance 10% is held by other minority shareholders based across the region.

MRC

(plastemart) -- Reliance Industries plans to export 80-90% of output from its new 144,000 tpa MTBE plant in Hazira, after it starts up in June 2011. The MTBE produced at the plant will have a minimum purity of 98.1%, slightly above the standard in Asia of 98%. Although the source did not specify the targeted destinations for its MTBE, in Asia the cargoes would likely make their way to China and Southeast Asia.

MRC

(prw) -- United Business Media, the London-based publisher of Information Week and owner of PR Newswire, has purchased US-based Canon Communications, which owns Injection Molding Magazine and Modern Plastics Worldwide.

In a deal announced September 16, UBM said it was paying $287m to buy Canon from Apprise Media and Spectrum Equity Investors.

Apprise Media, backed by Spectrum, had acquired Canon in 2005 from Veronis Suhler Stevenson, in a deal that the Daily Deal estimated at about $200m.

MRC