Clariant and Ashland to sell ASK Chemicals JV to Rhone

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals, and Ashland Inc. has announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement to sell their joint venture, ASK Chemicals headquartered in Hilden, Germany, to investment funds affiliated with Rhone, a London and New York-based private equity investment firm, reported Clariant on its site.

The enterprise value of the transaction before debt and assumed liabilities amounts to CHF 310 million (EUR 257 million). After adjusting for debt and assumed liabilities, total pre-tax proceeds to the sellers will be approximately CHF 180 million (EUR 149 million), which includes CHF 155 million (EUR 128 million) in cash and a CHF 25 million (EUR 21 million) buyer note. Proceeds will be split evenly between Ashland and Clariant under terms of the 50/50 joint venture.

The transaction is expected to close during the third quarter 2014 and is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.

"The divestment of our stake in ASK Chemicals is part of our continuous active portfolio management to reallocate capital towards our more profitable growth areas," said Hariolf Kottmann, CEO of Clariant. "In the joint venture we have successfully combined the activities of Ashland and former Sud-Chemie businesses. Now we release it to a new owner who will focus on growth perspectives."

As MRC wrote previously, last year, Clariant and Tasnee, one of the largest industrial conglomerates in Saudi Arabia, signed an agreement to establish a masterbatches joint venture in Saudi Arabia. Within the framework of the agreement, through its 100% subsidiary Rowad National Plastic Company Ltd., Tasnee will acquire a 40% stake in Clariant’s masterbatches operations in the country, already operating under the name Clariant Masterbatches (Saudi Arabia) Ltd.

Clariant AG is a Swiss chemical company and a world leader in the production of specialty chemicals for the textile, printing, mining and metallurgical industries. It is engaged in processing crude oil products in pigments, plastics and paints.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chemicals distributor Nexeo Solutions has announced that it has successfully completed the acquisition of Archway Sales, Inc. and Jacaab, LLC (Archway), reported GV.

Financial details were not disclosed.

The combined capability of Nexeo Solutions and Archway creates a full line distributor in the coatings, adhesives, sealants and elastomers (CASE) industry.

"Archway's speciality portfolio closely aligns with our end market strategy," said Nexeo Solutions' President and CEO, David Bradley. "The similarity in our business models and our complementary product portfolios make this the natural next step on our path to market leadership."

"We see this acquisition as a union of strengths," said Bradley. "Archway has a very strong sales force and excellent brand equity in the marketplace, which will maximise our opportunities for growth."

"I believe we can bring our expertise and best practices to a common platform to make us stronger and more competitive," said Jack Baumstark Sr., Chairman and CEO for Archway. "We strive to be the preferred choice that comes to the minds of employees, customers, and suppliers in speciality chemical distribution."

As MRC informed earlier, last September, Evonik Corporation’s High Performance Polymers Business Line announced a distribution agreement with chemicals, plastics and composites distributor Nexeo Solutions for VESTAMID, VESTAMID Care, TROGAMID and TROGAMID Care product lines used in medical device applications.

Nexeo Solutions is the largest global chemical, plastics and composites distributor and environmental services with a centralized business model. As a private company employing more than 2300 employees with operations across North America, Europe and Asia, Nexeo Solutions is a leading distributor of chemicals, plastics, composites and environmental services.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shell and state giant China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) have signed a long-term deal to collaborate on projects in the unconventional sphere, said Upstreamonline.

The Anglo-Dutch supermajor and its Chinese partner will also work together in the deep-water and liquefied natural gas spheres, as well as co-operate on other upstream and downstream projects, CNPC said on Wednesday.

Co-operation documents were signed by Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden and CNPC chairman Zhou Jiping in Beijing on Tuesday.

"The two companies will strengthen long-term worldwide co-operation in unconventional resources, deep water, LNG, and upstream and downstream businesses," CNPC said.

"Both agree to take soft power as an integral part in various fields of cooperation, and to promote the strategic partnership between the two sides to a higher level."

A Shell spokesperson confirmed the deal, saying: "In line with Shell’s strategic priorities in China, we have signed with CNPC a global alliance agreement that reconfirms both parties’ commitment to our existing strategic partnership in China and around the world.

"Under the agreement, the companies also commit to expanding bilateral project cooperation into softer areas of the business including HSE management, corporate social responsibility, human resources, corporate culture, technology innovation as well as international management."

As MRC wrote before, Shell and CNPC signed a 30-year deal to explore for natural gas in China, and gives Shell an additional foothold in the market to meet the fast-growing nation's substantial energy demand.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.

China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) is the largest oil & gas company in China in terms of reserves and production. It is wholly owned by the government, and is the largest state-owned enterprise in terms of assets, and second-largest in terms of revenue. Its oil & gas reserves of 23 billion boe and production of 1.67 billion boe also position it among the top five integrated oil & gas companies in the world.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- State-owned Sinochem has got approval from the National Development and Reform Commission for preliminary work for a 1 mln tpa ethylene project in Quanzhou of the southeastern Fujian province, as per Plastemart.

Sinochem started test runs at its 240,000 bpd Quanzhou refinery in January.

Besides, here is the table, which lists ethylene plants under construction and planned:

- Sinopec/Exxon/Fujian - 200,000 tons;
- CNOOC Huizhou - 1,000,000 tons, start up in 2015/16;
- Sinopec/Kuwait Zhanjiang - 1,000,000 tons, start up in 2014;
- Sinopec Nanjing - 800,000 tons, start up in 2015;
- PetroChina Lanzhou - 1,000,000 tons;
- PetroChina/Shell Taizhou - 1,200,000 tons;
- Sinopec Hainan - 1,000,000 tons, start up in 2015/16;
- Sinopec Qingdao - 1,000,000 tons;
- Sinochem Quanzhou - 1,000,000 tons.

As MRC reported before, in August 2013, SINOPEC Wuhan Company’s ethylene project with a capacity of 800,000 tonnes per year produced first batch of qualified products, marking its successful commissioning and startup.

Sinopec Corp. is one of the largest scale integrated energy and chemical companies with upstream, midstream and downstream operations. Its refining and ethylene capacity ranks No.2 and No.4 globally. The Company has 30,000 sales and distribution networks of oil products and chemical products, its service stations are now ranked third largest in the world.
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MOSCOW (MRC) - Prices for polypropylene (PP) in the Russian market have increased this week again. The situation was aggravated by the temporary restrictions of truck movement in many regions, according to ICIS-MRC Price Report.

Many Russian producers announced increase in contract PP prices for April delivery of Rb500-2,000/tonne in the last week of March. SIBUR (parent group of Tomskneftehim, Tobolsk-Polymer and Neftekhimiya (Kapotnja) has announced another increase in PP prices of Rb1,000/tonne this week. The situation is aggravated by the increase in the transportation fees in many regions of Russia.

Ufaorgsintez plans to announce PP contract prices for the second half of April on Friday. The producer suspended the sales of PP in the beginning of last week, because the number of orders exceeded its capacities.

The restrictions in the transportation, which is traditional for spring, complicated the situation. This restrictions have already come into action from the beginning of April in Siberia and Bashkortostan. As a consequence, transportation fees increased in the range of 25%-43%, beside there were difficulties in chartering trucks. Some market participants said they had to suspend their PP purchases because of the difficultiy in their delivery.

Buying activity in the spot market this week was poor. Price offers for raffia were heard in the range of Rb63,000-65,000/tonne FCA, including VAT. Price offers for injection moulding homopolymer PP were in the range of Rb66,000-67,500/tonne FCA, including VAT.
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