Solvay completes the sale of its polyolefin cross-linkable compounds business

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Solvay has finalized the divestment of its polyolefin cross-linkable compounds business in Italy to family-owned group Finproject SpA, said the producer on its site.

As MRC informed before, in late 2016, Solvay completed the sale of its 70.59% stake in Solvay Indupa to Brazilian chemical group Unipar Carbocloro, following the approval earlier this month of the Brazilian antitrust authority CADE.

Besides, in early July 2016, Solvay completed the divestment of its shareholding in Inovyn (London), bringing to an end Solvay's chlorvinyls joint venture with Ineos. Solvay received exit cash proceeds amounting to EUR335 million (USD370.7 million). The dissolution of the jv follows regulatory clearances from the relevant authorities.

Inovyn was formed on 1 July 2015 as a jv between Ineos and SolVin, a subsidiary of Solvay. Solvay and Ineos signaled their decision to end their chlorvinyls jv in March this year.

Solvay is headquartered in Brussels with about 27,000 employees spread across 58 countries. It generated pro forma net sales of EUR10.9 bn in 2016, with 90% made from activities where it ranks among the world’s top 3 players.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- AkzoNobel has completed the EUR2.6 million (USD3.5 million) expansion of its US research and development facilities in Houston, Texas, as per the company's press release.

Carried out in phases over a period of three years, the investment in the site - which employs around 40 scientists - will support the company's Protective Coatings, Marine Coatings and Specialty Coatings businesses.

Part of AkzoNobel's ongoing investments in its global RD&I activities, the Houston upgrade follows an investment of EUR12.6 million in a research and innovation hub in Felling, UK, announced earlier this year.

"Our new state-of-the-art research and development facilities in Houston enhance our unique capability to develop and deliver products and innovations with specific performance requirements for North America. Our development capabilities are now second to none," said Steve Feldman, Vice President for Protective Coatings North America.

Added Chuck Hampton, Business Director of AkzoNobel's North America Marine Coatings business: "I am delighted that the investment and upgrade at our Houston site is now complete. The work underlines our commitment to technology and product innovation and providing technical support for our customers".

"As well as offering a more rewarding work environment for our employees, the upgraded facilities will bring us closer to our customers by delivering new testing and applications capabilities, and help us work closely with industry to continue developing solutions for their specific needs."

Additional capabilities at the facility include a dedicated area for experimental paint making, a modern paint application laboratory and environmentally controlled drying areas for conditioning of test panels. Enhanced chemical resistance testing equipment is also available to support the Ceilcote and Enviroline lining ranges in North America.

As MRC reported earlier, AkzoNobel said on 9 June 2016 that it was adding marine and protective coatings capacity at its existing performance coatings site at Lipetsk, south of Moscow. The new capacity was expected to be operational in the third quarter of this year. It will enable AkzoNobel to supply protective coatings for the regional oil and gas, mining, power and infrastructure markets, as well as marine coatings for ship building, maintenance and repair. The investment represents a further expansion for the multi-business site at Lipetsk.

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

May SPVC imports rose to 11,800 tonnes from 7,000 tons a month earlier, local companies further increased their purchasing of acetylene resin in China. Thus, overall SPVC imports to Russia were 23,600 tonnes in January-May 2017, compared to 26,300 tonnes a year earlier.

Chinese producers traditionally have been the key foreign PVC suppliers for the past several years. Last month's imports of Chinese acetylene resin grew to 11,200 tonnes from 6,700 tonnes a month earlier.

Export prices of Chinese resin have been relatively steady for the past several months, and the strong rouble made it more affordable in comparison with Russian producers' material.

European producers shipped small quantities of suspension, whereas shipments from the US have been virtually completely absent since the beginning of the year.

It is also worth noting that given the strengthening the rouble exchange rate and protective measures from some countries (Ukraine has banned imports of resin from RusVinyl and Kaustik Volgograd since April), Russian producers were forced to gradually reduce their PVC exports.

May exports of Russian resin (excluding supplies to Belarus and Kazakhstan) decreased to 1,600 tonnes from 2,200 tonnes a month earlier. Thus, 31,600 tonnes of SPVC were shipped to foreign markets over the stated period, down by 1% year on year.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Production of unmixed polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in Russia increased to about 386,500 tonnes in the first five months of this year, up 24% compared to the same period of 2016. A low production of the previous year was a result of the forced shutdown of SayanskKhimPlast, according to MRC ScanPlast.

May production of unmixed PVC in Russia rose to 84,000 tonnes from 77,800 tonnes a month earlier, all producers increased PVC production.
Overall PVC production reached 386,500 tonnes in January-May 2017, compared to 310,500 tonnes a year earlier. Such a high level of growth in production was a result of long forced shutdown of SayanskKhimPlast in February-July last year.

The structure of PVC production by plants looked the following way over the stated period.

RusVinyl (joint venture of SIBUR and SolVin) in May produced about 27,800 tonnes of PVC, with 2,200 tonnes of them accounted for emulsion polyvinyl chloride (EPVC), compared with 25,000 tonnes in April. Total SPVC production at RusVinyl reached 130,400 tonnes in January-May 2017, down 2% year on year.

SayanskKhimPlast increased capacity utilisation last month, the plant's SPVC production reached 25,900 tonnes, whereas this figure was only 24,000 tonnes in April. SayanskKhimPlast's production of SPVC over the five months totalled 109,400 tonnes against 35,300 tonnes year on year (the low production in 2016 was forced long shutdown in February-July).

Bashkir Soda Company (BSC) in May 2017 produced 22,300 tonnes of suspension PVC (SPVC), while in April it was 21,100 tonnes. The producer's PVC production increased to 108,300 tonnes in the first five months of 2017, compared with 105,900 tonnes year on year.

Kaustik (Volgograd) in May slightly increased SPVC production, slightly exceeded 8,000 tonnes, compared with 7,800 tonnes in April. Total SPVC production at the plant over the reported period reached 38,300 tonnes, compared with 36,000 tonnes year on year.


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) will not oppose the proposed merger of The Dow Chemical Company (Dow) and E.l. Du Pont de Nemours and Company (DuPont), said ACCC on its site.

On 27 March 2017 the European Commission cleared the proposed merger, subject to divestiture of major parts of DuPont's global pesticide business and global research and development organisation. Separately Dow will also divest its acid co-polymers and ionomers business.

"The ACCC previously had concerns the proposed merger may substantially lessen competition in the supply of certain insecticides and materials science products and reduce competitive tension in research and development of new crop protection products," ACCC Commissioner Mick Keogh said.

"The ACCC considers that these competition concerns will be addressed by the global divestments and, subject to those occurring, will not oppose the merger in Australia."

"The ACCC worked closely with the European Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Canadian Competition Bureau and the New Zealand Commerce Commission in assessing this merger. As the remedies provided to other regulators have resolved competition concerns in Australia, the ACCC has taken a pragmatic approach and not sought standalone remedies in Australia," Mr Keogh said.

The ACCC began an investigation into the effect the global merger would have on the Australian market in 2016 and published a Statement of Issues outlining preliminary competition concerns in November 2016.

As MRC informed before, Dow and DuPont announced their merger on 11 December 2015. The parties requested an ACCC informal review of the transaction on 27 June 2016. The deal, the largest ever in the chemicals industry, will create a USD130 billion company that combines products from both Dow and DuPont in the areas of agriculture, commodities chemicals and specialty chemicals to create the new businesses.

DuPont is an American chemical company that was founded in July, 1802. The company manufactures a wide range of chemical products, leading extensive innovative research in this field. The company is the inventor of many unique plastics and other materials, including neoprene, nylon, Teflon, Kevlar, Mylar, Tyvek, etc. DuPont was the developer and main producer of Freon used in the production of refrigeration equipment.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation. Dow is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene, polyurethane, polyethylene, polypropylene, and synthetic rubber.
MRC