Solvay expands its specialty polymers offerings with Ryton PPS acquisition

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Solvay has signed an agreement to buy the Ryton PPS (polyphenylene sulphide) business from U.S.-based petrochemical company Chevron Phillips Chemical Company for USD220 million, expanding its offering of high-performance polymers and entering a solid growth market, said the producer in its press-release.

Solvay Specialty Polymers, which has the industry’s broadest product portfolio, will gain access to new business segments and customers and broaden its offer in many innovative and demanding applications. Ryton PPS has a strong share in the automotive sector, replacing metal parts to make cars lighter and more energy efficient. Other worldwide leading positions are in electronics where it enhances fire resistance of components, and in filter bags to extend their lifetime in reducing pollution at coal-fired power stations.

"Ryton PPS fits neatly with our unique specialty polymers portfolio and reinforces our unrivalled capabilities to provide solutions to our customers in dynamic innovative end-markets," said Augusto Di Donfrancesco, President of Solvay Specialty Polymers.

The Group will buy from Chevron Phillips Chemical two Ryton PPS resin manufacturing units in Borger, Texas, its pilot plant along with R&D laboratories in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and a compounding plant in Kallo-Beveren, Belgium. Chevron Philips Chemical’s compounding unit in La Porte, Texas, will provide temporary tolling services to Solvay.

Synergies in purchasing, commercial and manufacturing excellence initiatives will further bolster performance. Chevron Phillips Chemical recently developed a highly innovative PPS production technology, which has not yet achieved its full potential. Solvay will invest and use its engineering know-how and operational excellence process to raise this new technology capacity over the next three years, leveraging the talent and quality of the 200 Ryton® PPS employees who will join the Group.

This acquisition is part of Solvay's strategic development into a more specialized solutions provider, delivering higher growth, and greater returns while reducing cyclicality. Completion of the transaction is due in the fourth quarter of 2014 and subject to customary closing conditions.

As MRC wrote before, Solvay SA and Ineos Group AG have given a name to their chlorovinyls joint venture, Inovyn, as the two firms prepare the launch the company by the end of 2014. The new company will officially open following divestments by both companies required by the European Commission. Until completion, Solvay and Ineos will continue to run their businesses separately.

Solvay S.A. is a Belgian chemical company founded in 1863, with its head office in Neder-Over-Heembeek, Brussels, Belgium. The company has diversified into two major sectors of activity: chemicals and plastics. Solvay supplies over 1500 products across 35 brands of high-performance polymers – fluoropolymers, fluoroelastomers, fluorinated fluids, semi-aromatic polyamides, sulfone polymers, aromatic ultra polymers, high-barrier polymers and cross-linked high-performance compounds.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PolyOne Corporation, a premier global provider of specialized polymer materials, services and solutions, has announced that its Versaflex soft-touch materials for consumer electronics are now available in combination with its Percept Authentication Technologies, reported the company on its site.

PolyOne's newly available formulation of technologies can help companies combat counterfeiting and reduce the risks associated with fraudulent goods such as phone cases, smart watches, headphones, earbuds and other wearable electronics.

"When designing innovative consumer products, it is extremely important to protect brand equity and still deliver the performance and aesthetic characteristics that the end consumer desires," said Walter Ripple, vice president and general manager for PolyOne's thermoplastic elastomer business, GLS. "Our new solution meets both those objectives, by joining PolyOne's Percept anti-counterfeiting ability with the soft-touch, performance, and durability benefits of Versaflex."

"In 2013, the US Department of Homeland Security logged USD145 million worth of counterfeit consumer electronics entering the country, and PolyOne's material was developed to help counteract the trend," Mr. Ripple added.

Percept technologies can be tailored to a wide variety of processing conditions, end-use applications, and authentication techniques based on overt, covert, or forensic-based approaches. These solutions enable companies to readily identify counterfeit products with easy-to-use methods based on additives and unique identifiers called taggants.

As MRC informed earlier, in February 2014, PolyOne Corporation announced the addition of new capabilities to its OnColor HC Plus portfolio. These expanded offerings add medical-grade LDPE, nylon, PEBA, PS and PVC to the globally available palette of specialty healthcare colorants, and are pre-certified to meet or exceed biocompatibility requirements for ISO 10993 and/or USP Class VI protocols.

PolyOne Corporation, with 2013 revenues of USD3.8 billion, is a global provider of specialized polymer materials, services, and solutions. PolyOne is a provider of specialized polymer materials, services and solutions with operations in specialty polymer formulations, color and additive systems, polymer distribution and specialty vinyl resins.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Spanish ABS producer Elix Polymers (Tarragona) has optimised its supply chain and says it is now able to supply its customers with standard products within four days, sid Plasteurope.

The reduced times are the outcome of the group’s efforts, announced last year, to increase customer satisfaction, maximise competitiveness and improve its service to the market.

The reduced lead times apply to Elix’s natural and black "Elix P2H-AT" ABS, its "Cadon IM30" injection moulding grade, its natural "Cadon CG28" compounding grade, its high butadiene content powder "Elix 158I" as well as its "Elix 260G" standard SAN.

As MRC wrote before, the Hamburg-based German company Velox GmbH will be the preferred distributor for the ABS/SAN-based modifier product range from Spanish company Elix Polymers, S. L., Tarragona, and licensed distributor in Germany, France, Italy, Austria, as well as Switzerland.

ELIX Polymers, S.L. is a strong engineering plastics player with more than 35 years experience in precoloured ABS and ABS specialties. In addition to ABS, ELIX Polymers, S.L. offers its product line of high-quality polymer modifiers, mainly based on acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) and styrene-acrylonitrile (SAN) copolymers employed to improve performance of engineering plastics & PVC compounds.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Asian producers of polycarbonate (PC) increased September prices on average by USD300/tonne on the rising cost of feedstock, according to ICIS-MRC Price Report.

This is especially felt in the blow moulding sector, which is totally dependent on supplies from Asia. Asian PC is not popular in the moulding and extrusion sectors. Producers in Japan and South Korea have begun to raise prices since the end of June.

June PC prices were in the range of USD2,450-2,650/tonne CFR Vostochny. In September PC prices reached USD2,750-2,800/tonne CFR Vostochny. In this regard, traders began to refrain from the procurement of feedstock from some producers, as for converters such PC price was unacceptable. The situation is exacerbated by the price fluctuation in the domestic market because of the devaluation of the national currency.

The trend of consistent price rise of the feedstock of PC is characteristic for Asia and Europe. So, spot prices for acetone rose on average by USD60/tonne in the last six months. Phenol prices rose USD200/tonne over the reported period. Bisphenol A prices increased by USD340/tonne over the reported period. Prices for injection moulding PC in Asian markets are now at USD2,520-2,720/tonne CFR China. Price for extrusion material are in the range USD2,450-2,520/tonne CFR China. Domestic prices of PC in Asia increased by USD120/tonne.

The most popular producers supplying PC in Russia for bottles blowing are Samyang (with share of 32%) and LG Chem (with 18% share). Both plants are geographically located in South Korea.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is gearing up for another big investment of USD13 billion (Rs 78,000 crore) to set up its third refinery-cum-petrochemical complex at Jamnagar in Gujarat, said Plastemart.

Reliance already operates the world's biggest refining complex in Gujarat, where its two refineries process about 1.4 mln bpd of crude oil.

The company has sought environment approvals to set up a USD12.8 bln upgrade to its Jamnagar complex including a 4,00,000-bpd refinery, some polymer units as well as a 450-megawatt pet coke-based power plant.

As per a company spokesperson, "The evaluation for this project is at a nascent stage and no concrete decision has been taken yet. It is too early to say how things shape up in the coming years.'

As MRC wrote before, Reliance Industries is implementing a new project to source 1.5 million tpy of ethane feedstock from the US to feed its crackers in India. Reliance says it is planning to upgrade its crackers to maximize the cracking of ethane and also to have maximum operational flexibility to optimize feedstocks with complete control of the supply chain.

Reliance Industries is one of the world's largest producers of polymers. The company's polymer production in 2010-11 (polypropylene, polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride) made 4,094 kilo tonnes.
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