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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lonza has declined to
comment on reports that Lanxess and private equity groups including Advent
International, Carlyle Group, Partners Group, and a consortium comprising Bain
Capital and Cinven have been shortlisted to bid for the Lonza Specialty
Ingredients (LSI) division, which is up for sale, reported Chemweek.
Lonza tells CW that it is in
discussions with potential buyers, but does not “comment on speculation,” and
that “as soon as we have more information, we will share it with the
markets.”
According to anonymous sources cited in a Reuters report, a
total of six companies have been allowed to proceed to the next round of bidding
for LSI. Private equity firm Lone Star Funds as well as SK Innovation are
mentioned as possible bidders, but it is not clear whether they have been
shortlisted, the report says.
Separately, a Bloomberg report says that
private equity firms Blackstone Group, CVC Capital Partners, and Clayton
Dubilier & Rice are no longer in the running. It adds that no final
decisions have been made, and there is no certainty that the shortlisted bidders
will make binding offers.
LSI is one of two segments within Lonza. The
other is pharma, biotech, and nutrition. Lonza's plans to carve out LSI were
first announced in June 2019. LSI is estimated to be worth 3.0-3.5 billion Swiss
francs (USD3.4-3.9 billion).
As MRC informed earlier,
Lonza (Basel, Switzerland) says it has developed a new structure for its pharma,
biotech, and nutrition (LBPN) segment to increase “divisional end-to-end
performance accountability” and to strengthen governance and process excellence
from global functions, as the company proceeds with the previously announced
divestment of its specialty ingredients (LSI) segment.
We remind
that in 2012, Lonza set up a task force to look at new supply routes and vendors
to feed its cracker in Visp, Switzerland, following the shutdown of Petroplus’
refinery at Cressier in January, 2012. Lonza’s cracker has an ethylene capacity
of 25,000 tonnes/year.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for
producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's DataScope report,
PE imports to Russia decreased in January-November 2020 by 17% year on year and
reached 569,900 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the
greatest reduction in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia
increased by 21% year on year to about 202,000 tonnes in the first eleven months
of 2020. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase
in imports. |
