Huntsman Corp acquired Gujarat-based chemicals producer Laffans Petrochemicals

(Plastemart) -- Huntsman Corp has acquired Gujarat-based chemicals producer Laffans Petrochemicals, and has also taken the ownership of the company's 60 KT ethylene oxide derivatives facility at Ankleshwar. Laffans ethylene oxide derivatives unit set up in 1994, had revenues in excess of USD 50 mln in 2010. The Ankleshwar plant was set up under technical assistance from Reliance Industries and is in proximity to the Hazira plant. The unit operates the largest loop reactor in the country and its glycol ethers and acetates unit has a capacity of 30 KTa.

Huntsman India has its facilities at Navi Mumbai and has been having a technical collaboration with Laffans for the past two years. India contributes to a little over 3% of its global revenue of USD 9.2 bln in 2010.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- India's second leading commodity bourse NCDEX is to launch futures trading in Polyvinyl chloride (PVC). It has also decided to relaunch Brent crude oil futures with modified contract specification.

Futures contracts expiring in May, June, July and August of 2011 in PVC would be available for trading from April 4. Members (brokers) registered with the exchange are allowed to trade up to 20 KT, while that of individual can trade up to 5 KT. The unit of trading would be 5 tons and prices will be settled based on the last spot price of the day as polled by the Exchange on the last trading day of the contract.

MRC

(Reuters) - Japan's naphtha imports for the petrochemical sector rose 40 percent in March from the same month a year earlier, government figures showed on Monday.

Imports of naphtha for ethylene production amounted to 1.330.333 t last month, the Ministry
of Economy, Trade and Industry said. That compared with 943.241 t in the same month last year and 1.396.060 t in February.

MRC

(Fibre2fashion News Desk ) -- Alexandria-based Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals Company, along with two other firms, is setting up a petrochemical plant to produce 460 KTa of ethylene. Sidi Kerir will have a 20 percent stake in the joint venture which is expected to cost around USD 1.18 bln. The project is anticipated to be completed within three years.

Sidi Kerir is a producer of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE).


MRC

(Solvay) -- Solvay and Rhodia announce the signing of a framework agreement according to which Solvay will launch a friendly cash Offer for 100% of the share capital of Rhodia. The cash Offer at EUR 31.60 per share (ex dividend of EUR 0.5 per share) values the equity of Rhodia at EUR 3.4 billion and the enterprise value at EUR 6.6 billion, representing a REBITDA multiple of 7.3x . The Offer represents a premium of 50% compared to the closing price of Rhodia on the 1st of April 2011 and a premium of 44% compared to the average closing share price over the last three months. The Offer will be launched in France and extended to the United States of America. The transaction has been recommended unanimously by the board of directors of Rhodia.

The acquisition of Rhodia will be earnings accretive from the first year. Solvay will fully finance the transaction with its cash resources and its financial structure will continue to be conservative and solid.

The new group's strategy is based on the following strengths: 90% of its combined sales of EUR 12 billion are realized in businesses where it is already among the top three worldwide. Solvay is a leader in high performance specialty polymers, in soda ash and hydrogen peroxide, while Rhodia holds leadership positions in specialty materials (silica, rare earths), products for consumer markets (surfactants, natural polymers, acetate tow) and engineering plastics based on polyamide 6.6.

MRC