Arkema to acquire adhesive powders firm Fixatti

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Arkema says it plans to acquire Fixatti (Zurich, Switzerland), a company specialized in high-performance thermobonding adhesive powders, said Chemweek.

The deal will enable Bostik, a subsidiary of Arkema, to enhance its offering of hotmelt adhesive products for niche industrial applications in the construction, technical coating, battery, automotive, and textile printing markets, Arkema says. The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2020, subject to approval by the antitrust authorities in the relevant countries, the company says.

The transaction forms part of Arkema's strategy to complement the organic growth of its adhesive solutions segment with bolt-on acquisitions, the company says. It is in line with the company's roadmap to become a pure specialty materials player by 2024 centered around adhesive solutions, advanced materials, and coating solutions, the company says. The deal also forms part of Bostik's targeted growth strategy in high value-added technologies, the company says.

The acquisition of Fixatti also has the potential to contribute to Arkema's ambition to increase Bostik's EBITDA margin to 16% by 2024, Arkema says. Moreover, it complements Bostik’s acquisition of Prochimir (Pouzauges, France), a company specialized in high-performance thermobonding adhesive film, last year, the company says. Fixatti operates two sites in Europe and one in China, employs 180 people, and has annual sales of about EUR55 million, Arkema says. It develops and markets a range of thermobonding powders.

As MRC informed earlier, in October 2019, Arkema successfully brought on stream a new 90,000-ton acrylic acid reactor at its Clear Lake, Texas site to support the growth of its North American customers in the superabsorbents, paints, adhesives and water treatment markets.

As MRC informed earlier, Russia's output of products from polymers grew in April 2020 by 11.2% year on year due to quarantine restrictions. However, this figure increased by 3.4% year on year in the first four months of 2020. According to the Russian Federal State Statistics Service, April production of unreinforced and non-combined films decreased to 107,000 tonnes from 110,400 tonnes a month earlier. Output of films products grew in the first four months of 2020 by 12.5% year on year to 402,800 tonnes.

Arkema is a global manufacturer in specialty chemicals and advanced materials, with 3 business segments - High Performance Materials, Industrial Specialties, and Coating Solutions - and globally recognized brands. The Group reports annual sales of EUR8.8 billion. Buoyed by the collective energy of its 20,000 employees, Arkema operates in close to 55 countries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indian Oil Corp Ltd’s 300,000 barrels per day refinery on the country’s east coast to be shut for three weeks for maintenance, the top district administrative official told Reuters.

"The Indian Oil refinery in Paradip will remain shut from July 25 to August 15 for maintenance," said Sangram Keshari Mohapatra, the top bureaucrat in the district of Jagatsinghpur, where the refinery is located.

“As per the company’s request, a shutdown order has been issued,” he said, adding the refinery was last shutdown completely in 2018.

As MRC informed earlier, Indian Oil Corp Ltd (IOC) shut production in the first half of July at the terephthalic acid (TPA) plant in Panipat (Panipat, Haryana, India) for routine preventive measures. It is expected that maintenance at this plant with a capacity of 550,000 tonnes/year of PTA will continue for 5-10 days.

PTA is one of the main raw materials for the production of polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

According to MRC's ScanPlast, May estimated PET consumption in Russia amounted to 70,170 tonnes, which corresponds to the level of consumption last year (70,450 tonnes). In total for the period January - May of this year, the estimated PET consumption in the Russian Federation amounted to 304,310 tonnes of material. This is 3% lower than the same indicator in 2019.

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) is an Indian state-owned oil and gas corporation headquartered in New Delhi.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Perstorp has recorded a net profit of 294 million Swedish krona (USD32.66 million) in the second quarter, swinging from a net loss of SKr41 million in the same period of the previous year, said Chemweek.

This is mainly due to a large difference in exchange-rate effects on net debt between the two periods. Meanwhile, net sales fell 32% year on year (YOY) to SKr2.08 billion, caused by measures to tackle COVID-19 that drove demand down worldwide and due to lower selling prices linked to falling raw material costs, Perstorp says.

EBITDA excluding nonrecurring items decreased by 27% YOY in the second quarter, to SKr265 million, the company says. Despite the weaker quarterly performance, the company was able to partially offset the negative impact of COVID-19 through a positive product mix together with lower fixed costs following strict spending controls.

For the first half of 2020, Perstorp’s net sales declined by 24%, to SKr4.79 billion, from SKr6.28 billion in first-half 2019, the company says. EBITDA excluding nonrecurring items amounted to SKr686 million in first-half 2020, down from SKr840 million in the corresponding period of the previous year. This is mainly due to lower volumes together with lower unit margins for some product lines caused by COVID-19 and expenses related to the refinancing of the company’s capital structure that was completed in the first quarter of 2019, the company says.

The company’s free cash flow in the second quarter amounted to SKr323 million, up from SKr221 million in the second quarter of 2019, as the lower earnings were counterbalanced by a favorable development in working capital, Perstorp says. Available funds, liquid funds, and unutilized credit facilities were SKr1.23 billion at the end of the second quarter, compared with SKr944 million at the end of the previous quarter and SKr1.25 billion at the end of 2019, the company says.

Perstorp says it has decided to postpone the construction of a Penta plant in Gujarat State, India. "The lockdown situation in India has had a large impact on the construction site and the current demand situation is uncertain. All construction work is put on hold for the time being but the ambition is to resume full operations when the visibility for the future has improved and it is possible to resume work as planned,” Secher says.

As MRC informed earlier, in the fall of 2018, Perstorp closed production at the phthalic anhydride plant in Nol, Sweden for scheduled maintenances at the plant with a capacity of 35,000 tonnes/year.

Phthalic anhydride is widely used in the production of paints and varnishes and plasticizers for PVC products. To a small extent, it is used in the production of industrial rubber goods and tires. In addition, it is used in the light, pharmaceutical and electrical industries.

According to MRC DataScope, the export of suspension polyvinyl chloride (PVC-S) from Russia amounted to about 92.2 thousand tons in the first five months of this year, which is 10% more than in 2019. Import volumes grew by only 1%.

Perstorp is one of the world leaders in various sectors of the specialty chemicals market, it's pioneer in formalin chemistry, plastics and surface materials. Perstorp was founded in 1881 and is controlled by PAI partners,a major European private equity company. The company has around 1,500 employees in with 22 production plants in Europe, Asia and North America.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Covestro has extended its contract with CFO Thomas Toepfer by five years to 31 March 2026, said the company.

Toepfer became CFO in June 2017, effective 1 April 2018, when he replaced Frank Lutz, who resigned. The position had briefly been covered by then-outgoing CEO Patrick Thomas.

Toepfer joined the company from manufacturing firm KION Group where he had been CFO and labour director since 2012.

Covestro said the move to extend Toepfer’s contract ahead of schedule is intended to ensure continuity of management during a turbulent economic period.

As MRC informed earlier, Covestro has closed the sale of its European polycarbonates (PC) sheets business to the Munich-based Serafin Group effective January 2, 2020. This includes key management and sales functions throughout Europe as well as production sites in Belgium and Italy.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's total estimated consumption of PC granules for the four months of 2020 (excluding imports and exports to Belarus) amounted to 30.5 thousand tons, which is 20% higher than last year (25.3 thousand tons).

Covestro (formerly Bayer MaterialScience) is an independent subgroup within Bayer. It was created as part of the restructuring of Bayer AG from the former business group Bayer Polymers, with certain of its activities being spun off to Lanxess AG. Covestro manufactures and develops materials such as coatings, adhesives and sealants, polycarbonates (CDs, DVDs), polyurethanes (automotive seating, insulation for refrigerating appliances) etc. With 2018 sales of EUR 14.6 billion, Covestro has 30 production sites worldwide and employs approximately 16,800 people (calculated as full-time equivalents) at the end of 2018.
MRC

1. May crude oil exports to Saudi Arabia plunge to 9-year low as OPEC+ cuts begin

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Arabia's crude oil exports plunged to a nine-year low in May as the historic OPEC+ cuts began, reported S&P Global with reference to data released July 16 by the Joint Organisations Data Initiative. Shipments dropped to 6.02 million b/d, the lowest since October 2010, from a record 10.237 million b/d just a month earlier. The 23-country OPEC+ coalition enacted a 9.7 million b/d production cut accord starting in May in response to the coronavirus crisis. The drop in exports came as the kingdom's output declined to 8.486 million b/d, the lowest since December 2010, from the all-time high of 12.07 million b/d in April. The kingdom still managed to boost crude stockpiles to 147.561 million barrels from a 16-year low of 143.502 million barrels a month earlier.


MRC