Ministry approves SK Global Chemical ownership stake in Ulsan Aromatics

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) has approved SK Global Chemical’s ownership stake in Ulsan Aromatics in its first foreign investment committee meeting on April 24, said Plastemart.

The joint venture between the SK Group and a Japanese company has come to fruition after three years of negotiations. Ulsan Aromatics manufactures paraxylene and was founded with investment from SK Global Chemical (SK’s affiliate), and the JX Nippon Oil & Energy. The Korean company holds a 55.9% stake in the joint venture, and the Japanese firm 44.1%.

The investment partnership started in 2011, but almost foundered owing to the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act. The law stipulates that when a holding company’s sub-subsidiary creates a great grandson subsidiary, the sub-subsidiary is required to own a 100% stake in the great grandson subsidiary. The provision is aimed at preventing conglomerates from making cross investments. Petrochemical companies, on the other hand, have maintained that a joint venture between local and foreign firms is necessary for a several-trillion-won project.

In May 2013, the government accepted the industry’s suggestion, introduced a measure to revitalize investment for the first time, and tried to amend the FIPA. Finally, the revised bill was narrowly passed by the National Assembly at a plenary session at the end of 2013.

As MRC informed before, SK Global Chemical and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. have signed an agreement that establishes a joint venture between the two companies to operate Sinopec's recently completed 800,000 tonnes per year naphtha cracker in Wuhan, China.

SK Chemicals Co., Ltd. is a Korea-based company that is engaged in the manufacture of chemical products.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global technology and specialty materials company and a global leader in vinyl acetate ethylene (EVA) emulsions, has announced that its board of directors has approved a 39% increase in the company's quarterly common stock cash dividend, reported the company on its site.

The dividend rate increased from USD0.18 to USD0.25 per share of common stock on a quarterly basis and from USD0.72 to USD1.00 per share of common stock on an annual basis. The new dividend rate will be applicable immediately.

"Our strong cash flow generation allows us to return more cash to shareholders. Since April 2012 we have more than quadrupled the quarterly dividend rate," said Mark Rohr, chairman and chief executive officer. "This 39% increase in our dividend rate results in a payout ratio of approximately 20%, reflecting our continued commitment to shareholder value and balanced capital deployment strategy."

The dividend is payable to stockholders of record as of May 5, 2014.

As MRC reported earlier, Celanese Corporation, has recently announced that it will increase the price of all GUR and GHR UHMW-PE grades sold in China. This price increase will be 15% and come in force on 1 May, 2014, or as contracts allow.

Celanese Corporation is a global technology leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Celanese employs approximately 7,400 employees worldwide and had 2013 net sales of USD6.5 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Idemitsu SM (Malaysia), an affiliate of Idemitsu Kosan, one of Japan’s largest refining and petrochemical companies, is likely to shut its styrene monomer (SM) plant for maintenance, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Malaysia informed that the plant is planned to be shut in August 2014. It is likely to remain shut for around one month.

Located at Pasir Gudang in Malaysia, the SM plant has a production capacity of 600,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, Idemitsu Kosan shut all units at its 120,000 barrels-per-day Tokuyama refinery complex in western Japan after a strong earthquake of magnitude 6.3 that struck off Japan's southern island of Kyushu near the city of Oita. Naphtha crackers at the Tokuyama plant with the capacity to produce 687,000 tonnes of ethylene a year were also shut down.

Besides, previously Idemitsu Kosan had unveiled its plans to shut down its SM plant for maintenance turnaround in April 2014. It will remain off-stream for around one month. Located in Chiba, Japan, the plant has a production capacity of 210,000 mt/year.

Idemitsu Kosan is a Japanese petroleum company. It owns and operates oil platforms, refineries and produces and sells petroleum, oils and petrochemical products. The company runs two petrochemical plants in Chiba and Tokuyama. The two naphtha crackers can produce up to 997,000 tonnes of ethylene per year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Kraton Performance Polymers, a leading global innovator and producer of Styrenic Block Copolymers (SBCs) and other engineered polymers, announced the introduction of two new hydrogenated styrenic block copolymers (HSBCs), said the company in its press release.

Kraton MD6951 and MD1648 present a unique balance of high elasticity, extraordinary tensile strength and exceptional lower melt viscosity, which will allow for a host of new process applications to be explored. Both polymers are an extension of the versatile family of HSBCs - Kraton A and ERS polymers - and will enable innovators to pursue melt blown, injection molding, rotational molding, compression molding, or textile processes, while maintaining the softness, strength, and pliability of their products.

Kraton MD6951 is the newest HSBC in the Kraton A family, and has an enhanced flow capability never before seen on the market. It has several potential applications, including soft touch over molding, which produces such products as cell phone protectors and power tool grips, protective cling films and sound dampening materials. MD6951 maintains the reliability and hallmarks of the Kraton A family, such as softness, ease of use and compatibility. Additionally, its increased polarity makes it compatible with thermoplastic polyurethane, polystyrene, polyphenylene oxide, among others.

Kraton MD1648 is an enhanced rubber segment (ERS) styrenic block copolymer. ERS polymers are compatible with polyolefins such as polypropylene and polyethylene - plastics used in such materials as elastic non-wovens for applications such as surgical and protective apparel, diapers and industrial textiles. Historically, SBCs had certain limitations because of high viscosity making them unsuitable for fine fiber processing. However, because MD1648 possesses high elasticity and strength together with exceptionally low viscosity, it can run on existing melt blown process equipment.

As MRC wrote before, Kraton Performance Polymers has entered into a definitive agreement to combine with the styrenic block copolymer operations of Taiwan-based LCY Chemical Corp. The transaction will combine Kraton’s broad product portfolio and innovation platform with LCY’s cost-effective and innovative SBC operations and its proven record of driving growth in China and broader Asia.

Kraton Performance Polymers, Inc., through its operating subsidiary Kraton Polymers LLC and its subsidiaries, is a leading global producer of engineered polymers and styrenic block copolymers ("SBCs"), a family of products whose chemistry was pioneered by us almost fifty years ago. Kraton manufactures products at five plants globally, including our flagship plant in Belpre, Ohio, as well as plants in Germany, France and Brazil, and a joint venture plant operated in Japan.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LANXESS is in the process of restarting its world-scale butyl rubber plant in Zwijndrecht, Belgium, after union-represented production employees agreed to accept the terms of a new two-year collective labor agreement and subsequently ended their strike, said 4-traders.

Normal supplies to customers will be re-established once the plant is fully up and running. This process will take approximately one week. In total, LANXESS will have lost nine weeks of production due to the strike. During the strike, the company's global butyl rubber network has helped to reduce the impact on customers, with supplies coming from world-scale plants in Sarnia, Canada, and Singapore.

'We are pleased that the employees, who were on strike, have voted in favor of accepting the negotiated proposal,' said Guenther Weymans, head of the Butyl Rubber business unit.

LANXESS has invested roughly EUR 250 million in Zwijndrecht in the past years and currently employs 435 people at the site.

Butyl rubber is above all used in tire inner liners - the innermost, air- and humidity-impermeable layer of a tire. It keeps tire pressure constant over a long period, thus making vehicles safer and ensuring they consume less fuel and therefore produce fewer harmful emissions.

As MRC wrote previously, last July, Lanxess celebrated the opening of its first production facility in Russia. In the new plant at the Lipetsk site, Lanxess subsidiary Rhein Chemie manufactures polymer-bound rubber additives for the markets in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), primarily for the automotive and tire industries. A production facility for the bladders used in tire production is to be added in 2016. The overall investment volume in euros amounts to a seven-digit figure.

LANXESS is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR 8.3 billion in 2013 and roughly 17,300 employees in 31 countries. The company is currently represented at 52 production sites worldwide. The core business of LANXESS is the development, manufacturing and marketing of plastics, rubber, intermediates and specialty chemicals.
MRC