Reliance, Sanmina create joint venture for electronics manufacturing in India

Reliance Industries has formed a new joint venture with California -based logistics and manufacturing solutions company Sanmina Corporation to create a electronic manufacturing hub in India, said Thehindubusinessline.

Reliance Strategic Business Ventures Limited (RSBVL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of RIL, will invest in Sanmina’s existing Indian entity - Sanmina SCI India Private Ltd (SIPL)- which runs a manufacturing unit in Chennai. Globally, Sanmina was founded in 1980 and it had revenues of USD6.76 billion for the fiscal year 2021. The company has global footprint of manufacturing operations in 20 countries on 6 continents. The Sanmina Chennai facility provides complete design and manufacturing solutions for leading telecommunications, medical, storage & computing, avionics, industrial and multimedia companies.

RSBVL will hold a 50.1 per cent equity stake in the joint venture entity, primarily through an investment of up to ?1,670 crore in new shares in Sanmina’s existing Indian entity. Sanmina will own the remaining 49.9 per cent. As a result of the investment, the joint venture will be capitalised with over $200 million of cash to fund growth, the companies said in a statement.

All the manufacturing will initially be done at Sanmina’s 100-acre campus in Chennai, with the ability for site expansion to support future growth opportunities as well as to potentially expand to new manufacturing sites in India over time based on business needs.

The completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals. The transaction is expected to close no later than September 2022.

As MRC informed before, in November 2021, Reliance Industries and Saudi Aramco decided to re-evaluate their agreement for the Middle Eastern producer to buy a stake in the refining and petrochemical business of India"s biggest private refiner, and both companies would look at broader areas of cooperation due to the changing energy scenario.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,265,290 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2021, up by 14% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,363,850 tonnes in January-November, 2021, up by 25% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

Reliance Industries is one of the world's largest producers of polymers. The company produces polypropylene, polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride and other petrochemical products.

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Indian refiner Nayara Energy, part-owned by Russian oil giant Rosneft, could find it harder to raise funds for expansion as a result of Western sanctions in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

"We are cautious even if there is limited exposure and in this case they have a majority Russian exposure via Rosneft and a Cyprus based fund, so it makes sense to put these loan disbursals on hold and to play safe," one banking source said. Nayara said in response to questions about its funding plans that it did not have any direct dependence on banks for the expansion of its retail network as the majority of its outlets are owned and operated by dealers.

"Some banks do provide working capital financing facilities to some of our dealers, which is governed by the bi-lateral agreement between the bank and the franchisee, without any recourse to Nayara," it said in a statement on Thursday. Nayara is in the process of rebranding its fleet of more than 6,000 retail fuel stations in its own name from Essar Oil as it was formerly known, and plans another 3,000 outlets.

Dealers who want to set up Nayara's fuel stations and those rebranding their facilities, are facing difficulty in getting funds from banks, the sources said. Rosneft owns a 49.13% stake in Nayara, which was formerly known as Essar Oil, while a similar-sized holding is split between global commodities trading house Trafigura and Cyprus-based Russian investment group United Capital Partners.

Indian banks are awaiting clarity from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government and the central bank on assets and payment settlements relating to Russia, which has meant putting loans to businesses related to Nayara on hold, the sources said. Nayara operates the 400,000 bpd Vadinar refinery in India's western Gujarat state and has plans to raise its petrochemical capacity in phases.

Last year, Nayara raised 40 B rupees (USD528 MM) for its planned USD850 MM polypropylene plant, which is to be funded through a mix of debt and equity. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it could be difficulty for Nayara to raise funds in the next round for expansion if sanctions against Russia continue.

We remind, in December 2021, Rosneft backed Nayara Energy, earlier known as Essar Oil, has chalked out massive expansion plans for India which include setting up of a greenfield petrochemical complex and ramping up its existing refining capacity from 20 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 46 mtpa at Vadinar near Jamnagar in Gujarat. The total envisaged investment for expansion, of which a major part is towards building a new petrochemical complex, is about Rs.1.5 lakh crore, they said. The expansion plans also include increasing its retail presence and additional investment at the captive port of Vadinar.

As per MRC, Nayara Energy hopes to operate its 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) refinery in western India at close to 100% capacity in 2021 as fuel demand is picking up, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing with reference to Chief Executive Alois Virag's statement at APPEC 2021 conference. Nayara, part owned by Russian oil major Rosneft, cut rates at its Vadinar refinery in Gujarat state last year.
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Sulzer has been awarded by Yangzhou Huitong Biological New Material to supply technology and key equipment for its polylactic acid (PLA) production facility in Jiangsu Province, China, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The facility will have a production capacity of 30,000 tpy. The plant will be able to produce a large portfolio of PLA grades serving a broad range of end-use applications from food packaging to kitchen utensils or toys. Replacing traditional plastics with non-fossil based plastics directly contributes to an improved carbon footprint.

The versatility of Sulzer’s PLA technology allows the production of a large range of molecular weights and stereoisomer ratios, while meeting product high-quality standards. To meet Yangzhou Huitong Biological New Material’s requirements, Sulzer Chemtech will design and provide its lactide purification, polymerization, devolatilization and post-reaction proprietary technologies. The licensing agreement framework also includes extensive service support from engineering to technical assistance and field services.

"This new facility will allow us to enter the fast-growing bioplastic market," said Zhang JianGang, President of Yangzhou Huitong Biological New Material. "We consider Sulzer an extremely valuable partner in this project. The company’s comprehensive technical services and cutting-edge production technologies for PLA will help us to effectively produce sustainable plastics and meet our customers’ strategic demands."

"We are excited to support Yangzhou Huitong Biological New Material in their flagship project," said Torsten Wintergerste, Division President of Sulzer Chemtech. "Our PLA technologies are currently used in most PLA facilities worldwide. We couldn’t be prouder to be supporting customers with monomer purification and polymer production units that are helping advance the sustainable and circular plastics sector."

As per MRC, Sulzer Chemtech has finalized an agreement with Encina Development Group, LLC to provide technology to recover high purity circular aromatics from cracked oil products derived from Encina’s mixed-plastics-to-aromatics catalytic conversion platform. Encina’s 1000 tpd waste plastics recycling facility will be located in Northeast US, and is expected to be operational in 2024.

As MRC informed before, India’s national objective of achieving self-sufficiency in energy and reducing its fossil fuel footprint is being supported by Sulzer’s expertise in pump manufacturing and refinery processes. The country’s first bio-refinery, Assam Bio Refinery Pvt Ltd., built by Chempolis' technology, is a ground-breaking JV that will be the only refinery in the world to create bioethanol from bamboo - available in abundance in north-eastern India. To help realize this pioneering endeavor, Sulzer is delivering a range of engineered application pumps as well as core technology such as column internals for the refining process.
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Austrian packaging and recycling company Alpla is expanding its recycling capacity in Germany following the acquisition of Texplast and PET Recycling Team Wolfen, said Nspackaging.

Focussing on the German bottle-to-bottle market, the acquisition of the two companies will increase Alpla’s annual processing volume of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles in Germany to 75,000 tonnes/year. The acquisition was officially finalised on 25 February 2022. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price or any further details. The acquisition is subject to the legal and regulatory approval of the competition authorities.

The combined processing capacity of Texplast and PET Recycling Team Wolfen is around 55,000 tonnes/year, according to Alpla. The company acquired BTB Recycling in October 2021, which has a processing capacity of around 20,000 tonnes/year.

Texplast produces PET pellets and flakes from used PET bottles. The pellets are primarily used for preforms for new PET bottles. The colourful PET flakes produced during the process are used by the packaging manufacturer FROMM to produce packing straps. FROMM will continue to have exclusive access to the coloured flakes produced from the German facility.

PET Recycling Team Wolfen specialises in the recycling of PET bottles from ‘yellow bag’ – the German bin for household recyclables. These are returned from household collection to the recycling loop.

As MRC, Alpla will build a new 23,000 square-metre manufacturing plant in Kansas City, Missouri. Alpla Group, a global packaging solutions manufacturer and recycling specialist headquartered in Hard, Austria, announced that it has selected the Kansas City region for its new 23,000-square-metre manufacturing plant.

As MRC informed earlier, Alpla and Krones developed a returnable PET container that provides an optimal environment for sensitive ESL (Extended Shelf Life) products such as juice and milk in the cold chain.

Alpla, with about 21,600 employees, produces custom-made packaging systems, bottles, caps and moulded parts at 178 sites across 45 countries. It also operates recycling plants for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and high density polyethylene (HDPE).
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Alfa Laval has taken the decision to pause all shipments in and out of Russia, said the company.

The priority for Alfa Laval is to ensure the safety and wellbeing of its employees and provide support to those in the affected areas.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is affecting Alfa Laval in many ways. The priority for Alfa Laval is to ensure the safety and wellbeing of its employees. Alfa Laval is providing financial and other support to affected employees. As the war is escalating, Alfa Laval will continue to review how to support and help its employees in the area – in the short and the long term. In addition, Alfa Laval will evaluate how it can further support the victims of the conflict.

Alfa Laval has decided to pause all shipments in and out of Russia. Historically the order intake from the markets in Russia and Ukraine has been approximately SEK 1 billion per year, equivalent to 2 percent of the total company. In parallel, an evaluation is being made of the existing orders and open projects. The total order book in Russia and Ukraine amounts to approximately SEK 750 million. The integrity of the order book will be re-assessed in connection with the first quarter report. In addition, some negative result effects are expected due to difficulties in completing ongoing projects.

Alfa Laval has a competent team of 240 employees in Russia and Ukraine. The team will be maintained despite the expected low utilization in the near term, while assessing the longer-term implications of the war on the Russian market.

As per MRC, Alfa Laval, a leading global provider of specialized products and engineering solutions based on its key technologies of heat transfer, separation and fluid handling, has strengthened its operations in the United States with three new facilities, expanding its commitment to serving its customers in the United States.

As MRC wrote before, in 2017, Alfa Laval won an order to supply compact heat exchangers to a refinery in China. The order has a value of approximately USD10.6 MM. It was booked late June in the Gasketed Plate Heat Exchangers unit of the Energy Division, with deliveries scheduled for 2018.

Alfa Laval is a world leader in heat transfer, centrifugal separation and fluid handling, and is active in the areas of Energy, Marine, and Food & Water, offering its expertise, products, and service to a wide range of industries in some 100 countries. The company is committed to optimizing processes, creating responsible growth, and driving progress to support customers in achieving their business goals and sustainability targets.
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