Celanese to acquire thermoplastics custom compounder Omni Plastics

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global technology and specialty materials company, has announced the signing of a definitive agreement for Celanese to acquire Omni Plastics and its subsidiaries, including the distributor Resinal de Mexico, as per the company's press release.

Omni Plastics is headquartered and has a compounding facility in Evansville, Indiana, with additional offices in Mexico City. Omni Plastics specializes in custom compounding of various engineered thermoplastic materials.

"Engineered thermoplastics continues to be a material of choice in automotive, electrical and electronics, consumer goods and industrial markets and Omni Plastics strengthens Celanese's presence in these strategic areas as well as brings expanded presence in office furniture, filtration, lawn/garden, and other specialty materials applications," said Scott Sutton, Chief Operating Officer, Celanese. "This acquisition further strengthens our global asset base by adding compounding capacity in the Americas to enable Celanese to continue to support a growing and diverse customer base."

Celanese expects to integrate the Omni Plastics thermoplastic compounding product portfolio and production capabilities into the Celanese engineered materials business to include the following product brands:

- OmniLon polyamide formulations for automotive, heavy truck, air movement, appliance, office furniture, and lawn & garden applications.
- OmniPro polypropylene formulations for pump housings, wheels, handles, mounting brackets, levers, pressure vessels, and office furniture component applications.
- OmniCarb polycarbonate formulations for automotive and electronic applications.
- OmniTech non-standard, custom-developed products including polybutylene terephthalate and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene formulations for applications with unique functional requirements, including flame retardant, conductive, wear-and-friction, and improved optical clarity.

Several product grades are UL-listed, FDA-compliant, NSF-compliant and made with post-industrial material, as well as qualified with automotive, E&E, and other original equipment manufacturers.

Celanese expects to complete the transaction early in the first quarter of 2018, pending customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. Financial details of the transaction are not being disclosed at this time. Until closing, Celanese and Omni Plastics will continue to operate as independent businesses.

As MRC wrote before, Celanese Corporation will increase January list and off-list selling prices for Vinyl Acetate Monomer (VAM) sold in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The price increases below will be effective January 1, 2018, or as contracts otherwise allow, and are incremental to any previously announced increases:

- for Asia outside China - by USD100 per tonne;
- for China - by CNY300 per tonne;
- for Europe - by EUR100 per tonne;
- for Middle East and Africa - by USD100/tonne.

Omni Plastics is an independent thermoplastics custom compounder headquartered in Evansville, Indiana. With the founding principle to distinguish itself by utilizing and maintaining ultra-modern compounding equipment, production techniques and responsive product development, Omni Plastics creates tight-tolerance engineered thermoplastic formulations to meet customers' exacting requirements.

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. Based in Dallas, Celanese employs approximately 7,300 employees worldwide and had 2016 net sales of USD5.4 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) – Effective as of the end of the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting on May 4, 2018, Dr. Martin Brudermuller (56), currently Vice Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors, will become Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE.

The Supervisory Board appointed Brudermuller in its meeting today. Brudermuller will succeed Dr. Kurt Bock (59), who is BASF’s Chairman since 2011 and has been a member of the Board of Executive Directors since 2003. This change will allow Bock to be elected as a member and chair of BASF’s Supervisory Board in 2020 after the end of the statutory two-year cooling-off period.

Dr. Hans-Ulrich Engel (58) was appointed as new Vice Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors. In the course of the changes, the number of Board members will be reduced from eight to seven in May 2018.

New distribution of responsibilities, effective as of the end of the Annual Shareholders‘ Meeting on May 4, 2018: Dr. Martin Brudermuller (56), Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors and Chief Technology Officer, Ressort I

Legal, Taxes, Insurance & Intellectual Property; Corporate Development; Corporate Communications & Government Relations; Senior Executive Human Resources; Investor Relations; Compliance; BASF 4.0; Corporate Technology & Operational Excellence; Digitalization in Research & Development; Innovation Management

Michael Heinz (53), Industrial Relations Director, Ressort II Engineering & Maintenance; Environmental Protection, Health & Safety; European Site & Verbund Management; Human Resources Dr. Hans-Ulrich Engel (58), Vice Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors and Chief Financial Officer, Ressort III Finance; Oil & Gas; Procurement; Supply Chain Operations & Information Services; Corporate Controlling; Corporate Audit

Dr. Markus Kamieth (47), Ressort IV Care Chemicals; Dispersions & Pigments; Nutrition & Health; Performance Chemicals; Advanced Materials & Systems Research; BASF New Business; Region South America

Saori Dubourg (46), Ressort V Construction Chemicals; Crop Protection; Bioscience Research; Region Europe Sanjeev Gandhi (51), Ressort VI, headquartered in Asia

Intermediates; Monomers; Petrochemicals; Greater China & Functions Asia Pacific; South & East Asia, ASEAN & Australia / New Zealand Wayne T. Smith (57), Ressort VII, headquartered in North America

Catalysts; Coatings; Performance Materials; Market & Business Development, Site & Verbund Management North America; Regional Functions & Country Platforms North America; Process Research & Chemical Engineering

At BASF, we create chemistry for a sustainable future. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. The approximately 114,000 employees in the BASF Group work on contributing to the success of our customers in nearly all sectors and almost every country in the world. Our portfolio is organized into five segments: Chemicals, Performance Products, Functional Materials & Solutions, Agricultural Solutions and Oil & Gas. BASF generated sales of about €58 billion in 2016. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (BAS).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Inter Pipeline has announced a USD900 million capital expenditure program for 2018, with 91% of it will be for organic growth initiatives, said Energy-business-review.

The remaining USD80 million invested for sustaining capital projects. In 2018, the majority of Inter Pipeline’s growth capital program is expected to be directed towards engineering and construction activities for the Heartland Petrochemical Complex which was sanctioned on December 18, 2017. Smaller investments will be made to enhance the connectivity of Inter Pipeline’s oil sands transportation and conventional oil pipeline assets, expand NGL processing infrastructure, and develop European storage operations.

Within the NGL processing business, Inter Pipeline will focus primarily on advancing the development of the USD3.5 billion Heartland Petrochemical Complex. This facility, located in Strathcona county, Alberta, will be designed to convert locally sourced, low-cost propane into 525,000 tonnes per year of polypropylene, a high value plastic used in the manufacturing of a wide range of finished products.

In 2018, approximately $600 million is expected to be invested in the complex on a number of activities including finalizing engineering, continued procurement of equipment, facility module fabrication and site construction activities. Construction of this large-scale facility is expected to be complete by late 2021.

At Inter Pipeline’s Redwater Olefinic Fractionator, approximately USD65 million will be invested in 2018 primarily focused on capacity expansion activities, as well as rail loading and storage investments. Other modest organic growth activities at the Cochrane and Empress straddle plants account for the remaining USD5 million.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant, a world leader in masterbatches and specialty compounds, has announced a price increase globally for all masterbatch and compound products containing titanium dioxide, carbon black, pigments, dyes and several additives by 8% (depending on the grade, concentration and quality of the titanium dioxide, carbon black, pigments, dyes and additives), as per the company's press release.

The increase includes white, black, color, additive masterbatches and compounds and relates to the following product brands: REMAFIN, RENOL, CESA, HiFormer & MEVOPUR.

This will be effective for all deliveries from February 1, 2018 or as soon as contracts allow.

This price increase is due to the additional rise in prices of titanium dioxide, carbon black, pigments, dyes and additives driven by several factors including supply-demand dynamics, ongoing capacity reductions in the pigment and dye industry and related increases in feedstock costs of several materials.

As MRC reported earlier, this summer, Clariant completed a significant expansion at its plant in Lewiston, ME, adding equipment that increases its capacity to compound high-temperature fluoropolymers, which include FEP, ETFE, and PVDF.

Clariant AG is a Swiss chemical company and a world leader in the production of specialty chemicals for the textile, printing, mining and metallurgical industries. It is engaged in processing crude oil products in pigments, plastics and paints. Clariant India has local masterbatch production activities at Rania, Kalol and Nandesari (Gujarat) and Vashere (Maharashtra) sites in India.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Overall imports of polyethylene (PE) into Belarus decreased in the first ten months of 2017 by 3.1% year on year, reaching 103,300 tonnes. Local companies increased their purchasing of all PE grades, except for linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), as per MRC's DataScope report.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics of Belarus, October 2017 PE imports to Belarus decreased to 10,300 tonnes from 11,000 tonnes a month earlier. Russian producers of low-density polyethylene (HDPE) reduced their supplies due to stops for repairs. Overall PE imports reached 103,300 tonnes in January-October 2017, compared to 106,600 tonnes a year earlier. Demand for low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased, while LDPE imports declined.

The structure of PE imports to Belarus by grades looked the following way over the stated period.

October total LDPE imports decreased to 1,800 tonnes from 2,800 tonnes a month earlier. Local companies reduced their PE purchasing in Russia. Overall imports of this PE grade into Belarus totalled 30,400 tonnes in January-October 2017, compared to 23,600 tonnes a year earlier.

October LLDPE imports were 3,200 tonnes versus 2,800 tonnes a month earlier, local companies significantly raised their purchasing of Middle Eastern butene PE. Thus, overall LLDPE imports to Belarus exceeded 31,800 tonnes in January-October 2017, whereas this figure was 45,600 tonnes a year earlier.

October imports of HDPE into Belarus decreased to 5,300 tonnes against 6,000 tonnes in September. Local companies had to reduce the volume of polyethylene purchases from Russian producers due to export restrictions. Overall HDPE imports into the country were about 41,700 tonnes in January-October 2017, up by 11.6% year on year.


MRC