MOSCOW (MRC) -- Private equity firm SK Capital Partners has closed the acquisition from Baker Hughes of its specialty polymers business and renamed it NuCera Solutions, said Chemweek.
The acquisition was first announced in July. The newly named NuCera has manufacturing operations in Barnsdall, Oklahoma, and produces specialty low molecular weight olefin polymers, including differentiated functional polymers and high melting point polyethylene (PE) waxes. NuCera has appointed Steve McKeown as CEO and Shawn Ham as CFO, with immediate effect. McKeown was most recently president and COO at Galata Chemicals, while Ham served most recently as chief accounting officer at KMG Chemicals.
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius acted as legal counsel to SK Capital, with debt financing provided by KeyBanc Capital Markets. Evercore acted as financial advisor and King & Spalding served as legal counsel to Baker Hughes.
As MRC informed earlier, SK Global Chemical (SKGC), one of the largest producers of petrochemical products in South Korea, plans to permanently close cracking unit No. 1 in Ulsan (Ulsan, South Korea) on December 8 this year.
According to a letter from the company to its customers, production at this 190,000 tonnes of ethylene and 135,000 tonnes of propylene per year will be halted due to unfavorable market conditions. However, SKGC will continue to supply ethylene to its domestic customers from other crackers.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall PE production totalled 1,712,400 tonnes in the first seven months of 2020, up by 58% year on year. Linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) accounted for the greatest increase in the output. At the same time, overall PP production in Russia increased in January-July 2020 by 24% year on year to 1,063,700 tonne. ZapSibNeftekhim accounted for the main increase in the output.
SK Global Chemical is a division of SK Group, Korea's first refinery with over 50 years of experience. SK Group has over 70 thousand employees working in 113 offices around the world. Its largest enterprises produce mainly petrochemical products.
MRC