|
MOSCOW (MRC) -- Solvay says it has
reached an agreement to sell its technical-grade barium and strontium business
in Germany, Spain, and Mexico, as well as its sodium percarbonate business in
Germany to Latour Capital (Paris, France), an independent private equity firm,
according to Chemweek.
The company
says its joint venture (JV) with Chemical Products Corp. (Cartersville, Georgia)
is included in the transaction as part of Solvay's barium and strontium
business. The transaction - financial terms of which have not been disclosed -
will be completed in the first quarter of 2021 and remains subject to the
completion of information and consultation procedures with employee
representatives and approval from the relevant regulatory authorities.
Didier Gaudoux, partner at Latour Capital, says that under Solvay’s
umbrella, the businesses "have established leading competitive positions and
proved to have very efficient production processes. We will support the
management to deliver an ambitious and sustainable growth strategy, with the
right investments in capacities and continuous improvements on ESG matters,” he
says.
The agreement is a key step toward streamlining Solvay’s portfolio
while reducing the company’s footprint by exiting its position in niche
technical-grade chemical markets, the company says. The divestment also aligns
with Solvay’s G.R.O.W. strategy, announced last year, it says.
As MRC reported earlier,
in August, 2020, through the acquisition of the Solvay polyamide (PA) business,
BASF enhanced its R&D capabilities in Asia Pacific with new
technologies, technical expertise, and upgraded material and part testing
services. BASF is planning to integrate the R&D centers from Solvay into its
R&D existing facilities in Shanghai, China, and Seoul, Korea. The enhanced
capabilities will boost BASF’s position as a solution provider to develop
advanced material solutions for key industries.
We remind that BASF-YPC,
a 50-50 joint venture of BASF and Sinopec, undertook a planned shutdown at its
naphtha cracker on 30 April 2020. The company initially planned to start
turnaround at the cracker on April 5, 2020. The plant remained under maintenance
unitl 18 June, 2020. Located in Jiangsu, China, the cracker has an ethylene
capacity of 750,000 mt/year and propylene capacity of 400,000
mt/year.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene
(PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's
ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,594,510
tonnes in the first nine months of 2020, up by 1% year on year. Only high
denstiy polyethylene (HDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments
to the Russian market reached 880,130 tonnes in the nine months of 2020
(calculated using the formula: production minus exports plus imports, excluding
producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply increased exclusively of
PP random copolymer. |
