Akzo Nobel opens plant in Gwalior

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Paints maker Akzo Nobel has strengthened its footprint in India with the commissioning of a new plant in Gwalior to make decorative paints, said Thehindubusinessline.

The greenfield facility, Akzo’s sixth plant in India, has been built at an investment of Rs 140 crore. It has an annual capacity of 55 million litres.

Amit Jain, Managing Director, Akzo Nobel India, said that the plant will provide cost-effective access to key markets in the northern and central parts of the country. It will reinforce their strategy to expand distribution of its Dulux brand, he added.

The sustainability features of the new facility include rain water harvesting, energy efficient pumping systems and 20 per cent of the roofing area designed to let natural light in, reducing the requirement of artificial lighting.

As MRC wrote before, AkzoNobel N.V. said it received a binding offer from Swiss-based Sika AG to buy its Building Adhesives business for 260 million euros. The deal is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter. The proceeds from the deal will be used to repay short-term debt and improve liquidity.

Akzo Nobel N.V., trading as AkzoNobel, is a Dutch multinational, active in the fields of decorative paints, performance coatings and specialty chemicals. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the company has activities in more than 80 countries, and employs approximately 55,000 people.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Xinjiang Tianye Group is in plans to start a new monoethylene glycol (MEG) plant, reported Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the plant is planned to be started in August 2014.

To be located in Xinjiang province, China, the plant will have a production capacity of 250,000 mt/year.

We remind that, as MRC reported earlier, Xinjiang Tianye Group Co started up a new 400,000 tonne/year carbide-based polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant in China's northwestern Xinjiang province in 2010 and achieved on-spec production on 6 October. With the start-up of the new plant, Xinjiang Tianye’s PVC production capacity has increased from 700,000 tonnes/year to 1.1m tonnes/year, making it the largest PVC producer in China.

Another Chinese petrochemical producer Hubei Chemical Fertilizer is likely to start a new monoethylene glycol (MEG) plant in late 2013. Located in Hubei, China, the plant has a production capacity of 200,000 tonnes per year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- "Air Products" is extending its Jurong Island, Singapore, industrial gas pipeline network to the Tembusu area from its existing pipeline network in the Sakra area to support the growth of chemical and petrochemical customers, as per Apic-online.

The company, which has a 250-t/d air separation unit on the island, has also signed a contract to supply both gaseous and liquid nitrogen to Prime Evolue Singapore, which is a joint venture of Mitsui Chemical's Prime Polymer subsidiary and Mitsui & Co., recently started work on a 300,000-t/y metallocene linear low-density polyethylene (MLLDPE) plant in Tembusu.

Jurong Island houses more than 95 global petrochemical, specialty chemical and petroleum companies.

"Singapore's energy and chemical industry plays an important role on the Asian as well as the world stage," noted Philip C. Sproger, Air Products' vice president and general manager for tonnage gases in Asia. "We will continue to pursue opportunities to support its development."

As MRC informed previously, earlier this year, Air Products agreed to acquire all of DuPont's interest in DuPont Air Products NanoMaterials, the two companies' 50-50 joint venture serving the global semiconductor and wafer polishing industries. The venture state-of-the-art applications and formulation laboratories in the US and Taiwan.

Air Products is a worldwide supplier of industrial gases and equipment, specialty and intermediate chemicals, and environmental and energy systems.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Board of Directors of A. Schulman, Inc., a global plastic supplier, has declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of USD0.20 per common share, payable November 4, 2013, to shareholders of record on October 28, 2013, according to the company's press release.

This represents a 2.6% increase over the prior quarter's dividend payout. The dividend on an annualized basis now stands at USD0.80 per share, and represents a yield of approximately 3%.

"This increase to our dividend reflects the strength of our balance sheet, the ability of our operations to generate significant cash flow - USD183 million over the last two years - and our long-term growth prospects. We are pleased to provide this increase to our dividend, and to continue our unbroken track record of consistently providing dividends to our shareholders, going back to when we became a public company in 1972," said Joseph M. Gingo, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of A. Schulman.

Under A. Schulman's current USD100 million share repurchase program, the company has acquired 2.2 million shares since inception through August 31, 2013, and has US56.6 million remaining under the program.

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, in mid-2012 A. Schulman Inc. inked a definitive agreement to acquire ECM Plastics, a privately owned plastics compounder located in Worcester, Mass., for USD36.5 million. Besides, Jeddah-based National Petrochemical Industrial Company (Natpet), a subsidiary of Alujain Corporation, entered into a joint venture agreement with A. Schulman to produce polypropylene compounds.

A. Schulman is a global plastics supplier, headquartered in Akron, Ohio, and a leading international supplier of high-performance plastic compounds and resins, which are used as raw materials in a variety of markets. A. Schulman has 33 manufacturing facilities globally. A. Schulman's fiscal third-quarter earnings fell 69% amid continued sluggishness in European markets and higher-than-expected costs in Latin America, where the company has been consolidating its Brazilian operations.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- INEOS will reopen its Grangemouth refining and petrochemical complex in Scotland after local trade union Unite agreed to the company's survival plan, reported the company on its site.

Unite agreed to terms including no strikes for three years, a move to a modern pension scheme, a pay freeze for three years, and several changes to on-site union agreements, including no full-time union convenors.

INEOS said it will reopen its petrochemicals business with immediate effect while also restarting the oil refinery.

As MRC wrote previously, the site had been taken offline in anticipation of a 48-hour walkout beginning October 20.
However, INEOS decided to keep the complex shut down after an insufficient number of Grangemouth workers voted in favor of the survival plan.

The survival plan calls for 300m pounds of investment towards the site upgrades, including the building of a gas terminal to bring in shale gas-derived ethane from the US.

The updated pensions agreement means that pensions will be built up over the course of an employee’s career, instead of being determined by salary at retirement.

The petrochemicals complex is wholly-owned by INEOS, while the oil refinery is joint-owned by INEOS and PetroChina. The Grangemouth site employs 1,400 people, including 700 at the petchem operations.

INEOS Group Limited is a privately owned multinational chemicals company consisting of 15 standalone business units, headquartered in Rolle, Switzerland and with its registered office in Lyndhurst, United Kingdom. It is the fourth largest chemicals company in the world measured by revenues (after BASF, Dow Chemical and LyondellBasell) and the largest privately owned company in the United Kingdom.
MRC