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MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF has reached an
agreement to sell its manufacturing site in Kankakee, Illinois and the
associated businesses of vegetable-oil-based raw material sterols and natural
vitamin E, anionic surfactants and esters produced there to an affiliate of One
Rock Capital Partners, LLC, a US-based private equity firm, as per the company's
press release.
The businesses have around 160 employees including
business management and commercial personnel across the US. The transaction is
expected to close in the first half of 2021, subject to the approval of the
relevant competition authorities. Terms of the transaction were not
disclosed.
BASF acquired the site and its businesses from Cognis in 2010.
It is operated by the Nutrition & Health and the Care Chemicals divisions of
BASF. Based on a recent careful market review it was determined that the site is
no longer a strategic fit for BASF.
“With this divestment, we are
sharpening the profile of our human nutrition business, to which we remain
firmly committed, with focus on creating superior food ingredients and
formulations that meet challenges and needs of continuously evolving
lifestyles,” said Dr. Melanie Maas-Brunner, President of BASF’s Nutrition &
Health division. “This is a further step to optimize the global manufacturing
footprint of our division,” said Ralph Schweens, President of BASF’s Care
Chemicals division. “I am glad that, with One Rock Capital Partners, we have
found a promising new home for our Kankakee site and the team.”
“During
recent years, the Kankakee site has established a strong reputation for
delivering natural, high-quality, mission critical products to its global
customer base. We look forward to building on its success and providing
customers with exceptional service and new innovations,” said Tony W. Lee,
Managing Partner of One Rock Capital Partners. “Our intention is to transform
the business into a strong standalone enterprise poised for significant growth,”
added R. Scott Spielvogel, Managing Partner of One Rock Capital
Partners.
BASF continues to produce anionic surfactants for the home
care, personal care and industrial formulators industries at its other sites
worldwide.
As MRC reported before,
German chemicals maker BASF said in early November it had put a project to build
a petrochemicals complex in India worth up to USD4 billion on hold due to the
economic uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. BASF signed a memorandum
of understanding with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), Adani Group and
Borealis AG in October 2019 to evaluate a collaboration to build the chemical
site in Mundra, in India’s Gujarat state.
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.
BASF is the leading
chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents,
amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic
petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this
segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive
industries. |
