Nordson Corporation to Sell Screws and Barrels Product Line to Altair Investments

MOSCOW (MRC) – Nordson Corporation entered into a definitive agreement to divest the screws and barrels product line from its polymer processing systems (PPS) division to Altair Investments (Altair), said the company.

This divestiture represents a portfolio realignment consistent with Nordson’s strategy to drive profitable growth through highly differentiated products serving attractive end markets.

Sundaram Nagarajan, Nordson president and chief executive officer, said, “Using NBS Next, Nordson’s growth framework, we are focusing our resources on precision technology solutions that will deliver profitable growth for the company. Our screws and barrels product line is a respected market leader in the polymer processing industry. While this product line no longer fits Nordson’s strategic focus, we believe it will do well with Altair. I want to personally thank the employees, who support this product line, for their contributions to Nordson and wish them success in their future with Altair."

Generating over USD70 million in annual revenue with 500 employees, this global product line has been reported in Nordson’s Industrial Precision Solutions segment. Nordson and Altair anticipate closing the transaction in the first quarter of fiscal 2021. They will work collectively to ensure a smooth transition with no disruption to customer service and support.

Joseph Kelley, executive vice president and chief financial officer, commented, “This strategic portfolio transaction will improve the company’s ongoing earnings and require a one-time, non-cash asset impairment charge of approximately $87 million. This action underscores our commitment to align and focus our resources with the best strategic opportunities for long-term profitable growth."

The company looks forward to providing further color on this pending transaction during its previously announced fourth quarter and fiscal year 2020 webcast. The webcast will be hosted on December 16, 2020, at 8:30 AM ET. To access the webcast.

As MRC informed earlier, Rocheleau Tool & Die Co. has ordered dozens of Nordson Corporation’s Xaloy screws and barrels to equip blow molding machines for use by manufacturers of pipettes that are essential components of COVID-19 test procedures.

We remind that Russia's output of chemical products rose in October 2020 by 7.2% year on year. At the same time, production of basic chemicals grew in the first ten months of 2020 by 6.3% year on year, according to Rosstat's data. According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, polymers in primary form accounted for the greatest increase in the January-October output. October production of polymers in primary form grew to 857,000 tonnes from 852,000 tonnes in September. Overall output of polymers in primary form totalled 8,340,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 17% year on year.

Nordson Corporation engineers, manufactures and markets differentiated products and systems used for the precision dispensing of adhesives, coatings, sealants, biomaterials, polymers, plastics and other materials, fluid management, test and inspection, UV curing and plasma surface treatment, all supported by application expertise and direct global sales and service. Nordson serves a wide variety of consumer non-durable, durable and technology end markets including packaging, nonwovens, electronics, medical, appliances, energy, transportation, construction, and general product assembly and finishing. Founded in 1954 and headquartered in Westlake, Ohio, the Company has operations and support offices in more than 35 countries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Denmark on Friday agreed on a deal with parliament to put at least 775,000 electric or hybrid cars on Danish roads by 2030 in its latest move to reach its ambitious target reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 70% in 2030, said Reuters.

The government also announced a broader aim of having as many as one million low or zero-emission cars on the road by 2030, but the current deal would secure financing for the first 775,000. There are currently only around 20,000 electric cars in Denmark, a fraction of the 2.5 million cars currently on Danish roads.

Under the new deal, taxes and levies on cars propelled by fossil fuels will gradually increase, and taxes on new cars will depend on how much carbon dioxide they emit, replacing a system which calculates tax based on cars' mileage. "The average electric car will be significantly cheaper in the coming years," Tax Minister Morten Boedskov said.

The plan, which largely follows earlier recommendations by the Danish Climate Council, would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 2 million tons. The plan, for which the government will set aside 2.5 billion Danish crowns (USD407.62 million), will be reviewed in 2025, to develop measures to have up to one million zero-emissions cars by 2030.

Banning the sale of diesel and petrol cars is in breach of current European Union rules, but the government on Friday echoed earlier calls by 11 member countries to phase out fossil fuel cars on an EU level by 2030.

As MRC informed earlier, BP has invested USD20 million in Israel's StoreDot, a start-up that claims its batteries can charge electrics cars in five minutes. The oil giant said that its venture capital arm BP Ventures was investing in the Tel Aviv-based firm as it looks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in its operations.

We remind that Russia's output of chemical products rose in October 2020 by 7.2% year on year. At the same time, production of basic chemicals grew in the first ten months of 2020 by 6.3% year on year, according to Rosstat's data. According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, polymers in primary form accounted for the greatest increase in the January-October output. October production of polymers in primary form grew to 857,000 tonnes from 852,000 tonnes in September. Overall output of polymers in primary form totalled 8,340,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 17% year on year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China is in the process of building a mega petrochemical and refining complex in east China’s Shandong province, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing with reference to local state media reports.

The country started the project in late October, 2020, four months after the USD20 billion project received state approval.

The Yulong project to be built in Yantai, Shandong, China’s hub for independent oil refineries, consists of a 400,000-bpd oil refinery and a 3-MM-ton-per-year ethylene plant, Reuters reported in June.

The project is one of nearly 500 key industrial projects that started construction in Shandong province in October with total investment of 544.7 billion yuan (USD81.26 billion), the newspaper reported.

The report did not provide further detail about the financing for the project or when the construction be will completed.

The complex, with investment led by private aluminum smelter Shandong Nanshan Group, adds to China's recent wave of petrochemical investments, which have been led by the private sector and drawn global giants such as BASF and Exxon Mobil to build complexes in the world's top petrochemical consumer and importer.

As MRC reported before, in late April 2020, ExxonMobil Corp kicked off construction of its USD10 billion petrochemical complex in south Chinese city Huizhou. The complex, which consists of a 1.6 million tonnes per year ethylene facility, is one of the few mega petrochemical projects in China wholly owned by a foreign investor.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,760,950 tonnes in the first ten months of 2020, up by 3% year on year. Only high density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 978,870 tonnes in January-October 2020 (calculated using the formula: production minus exports plus imports minus producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively of PP random copolymer increased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- At its meeting on 9 December, the Supervisory Board of Wacker Chemie AG made key personnel decisions to ensure long-term continuity in the management of the company. Wacker Chemie says it has appointed Christian Hartel CEO, effective 12 May 2021. Hartel, a member of the company’s board since 2015, will replace Rudolf Staudigl, the current president and CEO, who will retire on the same date, as per Wacker's press release.

“Wacker Chemie AG is extremely well placed and has promising growth potential. Under my leadership, the company will continue on its successful strategic path,” Hartel says.

Angela Worl will take up Hartel’s position as personnel director on Wacker’s board, the company says. Worl is currently head of the company’s human resources corporate department, and her board contract is set to run for three years, Wacker says.

As MRC reported earlier, Wacker Chemie operates a 90 ktpa EVA compounding plant at the Ulsan site, consisting of two lines. The second line with a capacity of 40 thousand tons of products per year was launched in 2013.

According to MRC's DataScope, September EVA imports to Russia fell by 30,32% year on year to 2,38 tonnes from 3,420 tonnes a year earlier, and overall imports of this grade of ethylene copolymer into the Russian Federation dropped in January-September 2020 by 9,85% year on year to 26,340 tonnes (29,220 tonnes a year earlier).

Wacker Chemie manufactures and markets EVA dispersions under the VINNAPAS brand name. VINNAPAS polymer dispersions are used in a wide range of industries: for the production of complex thermal insulation systems, building and tile adhesives, plaster, building mixtures and mortars, cement sealing slurries and nonwovens.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Trump administration has argued against a petition from oil refiners asking the US Supreme Court to review a lower court decision that undermined the legitimacy of the Environmental Protection Agency's biofuel waiver program, reported Reuters.

Department of Justice officials said the court should not review the case as it does not conflict with any other Supreme Court or appeals court decision, according to the brief submitted on Dec. 8. The officials argued that the court could review the decision after a similar case is completed in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Under US law, refiners must blend billions of gallons of biofuels into their fuel, or buy credits from those that do. Small refiners can apply for exemptions to the requirements if they prove the obligations would cause them financial harm.

At issue is a January decision by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals that ruled that waivers granted to small refineries after 2010 should only be approved as extensions. Because most recipients of waivers in recent years have not continuously received them year after year, the decision threatened to upend the waiver program.

Oil refiners petitioned the Supreme Court to review the decision in September.

A coalition of US biofuel groups has since announced, on Tuesday, it had filed a brief with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals challenging the Trump administration's decision in 2019 to grant 31 oil refineries exemptions from U.S. biofuel blending obligations.

"Those pending D.C. Circuit proceedings provide an additional reason to deny the petition in this case. If the D.C. Circuit parts ways with the Tenth Circuit on the question presented, this Court can consider whether that conflict warrants further review," the DOJ brief said.

The biofuel industry has called for the EPA to apply the Tenth Circuit Court ruling broadly, but the agency has yet to do so and is still contemplating pending petitions for the 2019 and 2020 compliance years.

"The Tenth Circuit got it right the first time, and now refiners need to accept the reality that they must comply with the law," said Geoff Cooper, president of the Renewable Fuels Association. "It's time to move on."

As MRC informed earlier, European and US oil refineries face a wave of closures due to plateauing fuel demand, tightening environmental rules and overseas competition, prompting some owners to opt for an easier alternative - converting plants to produce biofuels. The shock of the coronavirus epidemic crushed global oil demand and as some producers, including, say it might never recover to pre-crisis levels, the need to close refineries has accelerated. The International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a recent report that by 2030 around 14% of current refining capacity in advanced economies “faces the risk of lower utilization or closure."

We remind that 2ithin the framework of its net zero strategy, Total will convert its Grandpuits refinery (Seine-et-Marne) into a zero-crude platform and will invest more then EUR500 mln into this project. By 2024 the platform will focus on four new industrial activities: production of renewable diesel primarily intended for the aviation industry, production of bioplastics, plastics recycling and operation of two photovoltaic solar power plants.

We also remind that in November 2019, Total disclosed that itis evaluating construction of a new gas cracker at its Deasan, South Korea, joint venture (JV) with Hanwha Chemical.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,760,950 tonnes in the first ten months of 2020, up by 3% year on year. Only high density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 978,870 tonnes in January-October 2020 (calculated using the formula: production minus exports plus imports minus producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively of PP random copolymer increased.
MRC