Alpla expands footprint in Africa with latest acquisition

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ALPLA Holding GmbH will take over the Egyptian production site of Argo S.A. at the end of 2015. In doing so, the Austrian-based specialist in plastic packaging will expand its market position in Africa, said the producer on its site.

ALPLA opened its first site on the African continent in 2014 in Johannesburg.

Argo S.A., founded in 1970 and based in Athens, has branches in Greece, Romania and, since 2011, in Egypt. The ALPLA Group will take over the production site in Cairo at the end of December 2015. The contracting parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

The site is located around 30 kilometres north-east of central Cairo, in the industrial area of El Obour. Around 50 employees are currently working here.

"The acquisition of this branch is a second important step to further expand our presence in Africa," says ALPLA CEO Gunther Lehner. ALPLA opened its first site in Africa in 2014 in Johannesburg. Around 50 people are also employed at the site in South Africa, mainly involved in producing packaging for home care and cosmetic items.

As MRC informed earlier, at the end of October, ALPLA announced it would acquire Italian PET preform producer Plasco. Founded in 1995, Plasco has facilities in Anagni and Atella and produces more than 2.5 billion preforms per year.

ALPLA Holding GmbH operates as a holding company. The Company, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and distributes plastic bottles, preforms, caps, and tubes. ALPLA offers its products to food, beverage, beauty care, home care, oil, and lubricants industries in Austria.
MRC

Shell announces FM on supplies of butadiene from Singapore cracker

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shell has issued a force majeure (FM) on supplies for butadiene from its cracker at Pulao Bukom, reported Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Singapore informed that the FM was declared recently on supplies of butadiene. The cracker was forced to shutdown last week owing to technical issues.

Located at Bukom Island in Singapore, the cracker has butadiene production capacity of 186,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed previously, earlier in December, Shell also announced FM on supplies for ethylene and propylene from its cracker at Pulao Bukom.

In April 2015, Royal Dutch Shell completed a revamp and upgrade of its Singapore ethane cracker. The project increased production for the 800,000-tpy ethylene plant on Bukom Island by 20%. The ethylene and olefins unit is also integrated with Shell’s 500,000-bpd refinery.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
MRC

Fluor announces completion of isononanol plant project for BASF and Sinopec in China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Fluor Corporation has completed a world-scale Isononanol (INA) plant for BASF and China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) in the Maoming Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone, Maoming, China, said the company on its site.

The plant, which is a first-of-its-kind in China, was recently inaugurated by the owners and will serve the growing demand for next-generation plasticizers.

Fluor applied its integrated project execution experience in China, including its knowledge of working with joint ventures involving multi-national foreign investors and Chinese national oil companies, to complete the project safely and on schedule.

"Completion of the INA plant demonstrates true excellence in execution backed by world-class safety and a focus on quality,” said Ken Choudhary, Fluor’s president of Energy and Chemicals for the Asia-Pacific region. “This project is also a testament to our partnership with BASF and Sinopec which allowed us to complete the facility on time and on budget."

"This project is a great example of our One Fluor approach,” said Richard Meserole, Fluor’s vice president of Construction. “We used the breadth of Fluor’s tools and knowledge to provide solutions to the project. Most importantly, we delivered the project safely and in a quality manner that met the business needs of our client."

The project is a continuation of the long-standing partnership between Fluor, BASF and Sinopec, and builds upon the successful completion of various projects at the Verbund site in Nanjing, China.

Fluor Corporation is a global engineering and construction firm that designs and builds some of the world's most complex projects. The company creates and delivers innovative and integrated solutions for its clients in engineering, procurement, fabrication, construction, maintenance and project management on a global basis. For more than a century, Fluor has served clients in the energy, chemicals, government, industrial, infrastructure, mining and power market sectors. Headquartered in Irving, Texas, Fluor ranks 136 on the FORTUNE 500 list. With 40,000 employees worldwide, the company's revenue for 2014 was USD21.5 billion.

Sinopec Corp. is one of the largest integrated energy and chemical companies in China. Its principal operations include the exploration and production, pipeline transportation and sale of petroleum and natural gas; the sale, storage and transportation of petroleum products, petrochemical products, coal chemical products, synthetic fibre, fertiliser and other chemical products; the import and export, including an import and export agency business, of petroleum, natural gas, petroleum products, petrochemical and chemical products, and other commodities and technologies; and research, development and application of technologies and information.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries.
MRC

Solvay launches EUR1.5bn rights issue to finance Cytec buy

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Solvay SA launched a share issue to existing shareholders to complete funding for the Belgian chemicals group's USD5.5 billion purchase of Cytec Industries Inc., said Reuters.

Existing shareholders will receive the right to buy one new share at 70.83 euros for every four existing shares. Solvay shares closed on Wednesday at 105.80 euros.

The rights subscription period will last until Dec. 15. with settlement on or around Dec. 21.

Solvay said it expected to close its acquisition of Cytec on Dec. 9 after securing conditional antitrust clearance from the European Commission.

Solvay shareholder Solvac has committed to exercise in full its rights and thereby maintain its 30.20 percent stake. Also it announced a two-for-five rights issue of up to 452 million euros at an issue price of 74 euros.

In buying Cytec, Solvay will gain a leader in lightweight composite materials for which there is increasing demand from the aerospace and automotive sectors as they seek to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. It will also add to Solvay's existing formulations to maximise the amount of ore extracted in mining.

Solvay sold USD1.6 billion of bonds Tuesday after a 2.25 billion euro bond and 1.0 billion hybrid bond issue last week.

As MRC informed earlier, on July 28, 2015, Solvay entered into a definitive agreement with U.S.-based Cytec to acquire 100% of its share capital for USD75.25 per share in cash. The acquisition has been approved by Cytec’s shareholders, but is still subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals. The transaction is expected to close before the current year-end.

Cytec Industries Incorporated, based in Woodland Park, New Jersey is a speciality chemicals and materials technology company with pro-forma sales in 2004, including the Surface Specialties acquisition, of approximately USD3.0 billion. Cytec is a result of its spin-off from American Cyanamid Company. It makes resins, plastics, and composite materials, especially for the aerospace industry and other users of specialty materials.

Solvay S.A. is a Belgian chemical company founded in 1863, with its head office in Neder-Over-Heembeek, Brussels, Belgium. The company has diversified into two major sectors of activity: chemicals and plastics. Solvay supplies over 1500 products across 35 brands of high-performance polymers - fluoropolymers, fluoroelastomers, fluorinated fluids, semi-aromatic polyamides, sulfone polymers, aromatic ultra polymers, high-barrier polymers and cross-linked high-performance compounds.
MRC

Russian producers further reduced PVC prices in December

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Negotiations over December contract prices of Russian polyvinyl chloride (PVC) began back last week. Producers were forced to further cut their prices under the pressure of a major fall in demand, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Negotiations over December prices of Russian PVC began on 25 November and continued this week. In most cases, producers faced a severe pressure from converters in terms of pricing. The last month's demand for resin subsided further, and producers were forced to reduce their prices by Rb3,500/tonne from November.

This week's deals for December shipments of Russian PVC were negotiated in the range of Rb62,500-64,500/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, for the resin with constant K = 64/67. Negotiations over suspension with K = 58/70 were held in the range of Rb64,500-66,000/tonne, CPT Moscow, including VAT.

Some converters were in no hurry to negotiate deals for December delivery, motivating these actions by a desire to achieve lower prices. At the same time, a number of companies that do not plan to buy the resin this month has increased substantially.

Supply of the resin in the market, even given lower imports, was significantly higher than demand, resulting in some producers' announcement of their plans to increase export sales to balance the domestic PVC market.
MRC