PTT Global Chemical subsidiary buys land for USD13.8 mln for ethane cracker complex in Belmont County

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PTT Global Chemical Public Company Ltd., whose subsidiary may build a multibillion-dollar ethane cracker complex in Belmont County along the Ohio River, bought 168 acres for USD13.8 mln, as per Plastemart.

The Thai company is considering building a petrochemical facility in eastern Ohio, and has bought property that used to house a FirstEnergy Corp.

As MRC reported previously, PTT is on track to start commercial operations at its new 400,000 mt/year metallocene C6 linear low density polyethylene plant at Map Ta Phut, Thailand, in the first quarter of 2018. PTT will start up the plant by the end of this year. PTT currently has a total capacity of 800,000 mt/year of high density polyethylene (HDPE), 300,000 mt/year of low density polyethylene and 400,000 mt/year of LLDPE at the same site.

PTT Global Chemical is a leading player in the petrochemical industry and owns several petrochemical facilities with a combined capacity of 8.45 million tonnes a year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- With the successful closing of the acquisitions of the global Darex Packaging Technologies business and the Sonderhoff Group, Henkel strengthens its Adhesive Technologies business and complements its technology portfolio, said Henkel.

Darex is based in Cambridge, MA, USA and supplies high-performance sealants and coatings for the metal packaging industry around the world. It serves various global customers producing beverage, food or aerosol cans. The acquisition was announced at the beginning of March. The purchase price amounted to 1,050 million US dollars (around 919 million euros) on a cash and debt free basis.

The Sonderhoff Group, headquartered in Cologne, Germany, is a leading manufacturer of innovative foamed-in-place gasketing solutions and has broad expertise in developing and manufacturing customized dosing equipment. The acquisition of Sonderhoff was announced in May. Both parties agreed to not disclose financial details of the transaction. The deal was announced in March.

"Strengthening our portfolio through targeted acquisitions is part of our strategy. Closing both transactions will allow us to expand the position of our Adhesive Technologies business as a global market and technology leader," said Henkel CEO Hans Van Bylen.

"The Darex and Sonderhoff Group businesses will complement our existing technology portfolio in an excellent way. Both companies serve attractive markets with substantial growth opportunities and both businesses provide customer-specific, high-impact solutions with an outstanding technical expertise," said Jan-Dirk Auris, Executive Vice President Adhesive Technologies at Henkel.

"We will finance the transactions with a combination of cash and debt. In addition to the 600 million Eurodollar bond placed end of May at attractive conditions, cash and the existing commercial paper programs will be used," said CFO Carsten Knobel.

In fiscal 2016, Darex Packaging Technologies generated sales of 309 million US dollars (around 290 million euros). Darex has about 700 employees and 20 sites in 19 countries.

The Sonderhoff Group generated sales of about 60 million euros in 2016. The company employs around 280 people worldwide. Sonderhoff is headquartered in Germany and has subsidiaries in Austria, Italy, the US and China.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Malaysia's Lotte Chemical Titan Holding, a subsidiary of Lotte Chemical Corp, has raised about 3.77 B ringgit (USD878 MM) from an initial public offering (IPO) after pricing its shares at the bottom of an indicative range, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The IPO was, nevertheless, the biggest stock market flotation in Malaysia since 2012.

The integrated petrochemical producer, part of South Korean conglomerate Lotte Group, had initially planned to price its offer last week. However, due to a lukewarm reception from investors it instead relaunched the IPO on Monday after slashing the shares on offer by a fifth to 580 MM.

It also lowered the indicative price range to 6.50-8.00 ringgit per share from 7.60–8.00 ringgit earlier. In a statement on Tuesday, Lotte Chemical Titan said the IPO had been priced at 6.50 ringgit.

The company said global institutional investors accounted for about 30% of total demand while 23.5% of the shares was taken up by five local cornerstone investors.

"The institutional offering of the IPO received strong demand from both Malaysian and global institutional investors, and was oversubscribed," the company said in a statement.

At 6.50 ringgit a share, Lotte Chemical Titan will have a market capitalization of about 15 B ringgit, it said. The shares are due to start trading on Bursa Malaysia on July 11.

Sources familiar with the matter had told Reuters that retail interest for the IPO was weak as investors had deemed the offer overvalued.

"Ninety percent of the institutional investors are long-only funds," one source said, declining to be named as the process was private.

The offering attracted five cornerstone investors - Permodalan Nasional, Eastspring Investments, Great Eastern Life Assurance Malaysia, Maybank Asset Management and Maybank Islamic Asset Management.

Credit Suisse, JPMorgan and Maybank are joint global coordinators for the IPO. Bookrunners are CIMB, HSBC and Nomura.

As MRC wrote before, on 29 April 2016, Lotte Chemical Corp. finalized the takeover of Samsung Group’s chemical units in about six months after the announcement of "Big Deal" in October 2015. Samsung Fine Chemicals, which was completely taken over by Lotte in Feb., changed its name to Lotte Fine Chemical, while SDI Chemical, which completed the acquisition process on the 29th, changed its name to Lotte Advanced Materials through the general meeting of stockholders.

Established in 1976, Lotte Chemical has been solidifyng its position by localizing cutting-edge petrochemical technologies. Among the high-quality products produced by Lotte Chemical through its efficient processes are ethylene, HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE, PP, functional resin, EG, SM, PIA, PET, etc. Lotte Chemical’s products are being distributed to 152 countries around the world. With the acquisition of Pakistan’s PTA in 2009, Artenius in the UK in 2010 and Titan Chemical Corp., Lotte Chemical is now able to efficiently supply excellent products to an increasing number of countries. The company is further accelerating its efforts to strengthen its global competitiveness by establishing overseas branches in Hong Kong, Russia, and USA, along with the sales corporation in China for active sales activities both in domestic and abroad.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Hydrogen peroxide is used as active substance in the formulation of biocidal products and for the production of the active substance peracetic acid, said Evonik on its website.

Biocidal products containing hydrogen peroxide are applied in a variety of applications, e.g. as a disinfectant in water treatment, in the food and beverage industry, animal hygiene and also in the area of healthcare. Hydrogen peroxide has outstanding disinfectant properties and, as a potent antimicrobial agent, is effective against bacteria, molds and viruses, even at low concentration.

In the European Union biocidal products are subject to the Biocidal Products Regulation (BPR) (EU) Nr. 528/2012, which regulates the making available on the market and use of biocidal products in the European Union and shall harmonise the European rules for biocidal products and their active substances. The aim is to provide a high level of protection for people, animals and the environment and to ensure that products are sufficiently effective against the target organisms. The BPR stipulates a two-step process, in which the active substance evaluation is followed by a product authorisation of individual biocidal products.

With effect from February 1st, 2017, all biocidal products containing the active substance hydrogen peroxide, that are placed on the market and being supported as biocidal products under the BPR, have to be formulated with a technically equivalent active substance.

Furthermore, as of October 1st, 2017, any peracetic acid based active substances have to be produced with a technically equivalent source of hydrogen peroxide as defined in the active substance dossier for hydrogen peroxide.

To meet the demands of this regulatory requirement, Evonik has introduced the new product line HYPROX® AS besides the existing product line PERSYNT LC. The active substances HYPROX AS and PERSYNT LC are both approved reference sources as defined under the Biocidal Products Regulation 528/2012.

This portfolio enhancement supports Evonik’s strategic focus as a provider of sustainable and environmentally benign solutions. Evonik is dedicated to provide the best products and services to its customers in order to support them in fulfilling the BPR requirements.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF, the world's pretrochemical major, has put the expanded compounding plant at BASF’s Schwarzheide site in Germany into operation, said the producer on its site.

With the expansion of the plant up to 70,000 tons more Ultramid (polyamide - PA) and Ultradur (polybutylene terephthalate - PBT) can be produced each year. This is a further step in the capacity expansions with which BASF is responding to the rising global demand for engineering plastics. BASF’s worldwide compounding capacity for PA and PBT will thus reach more than 700,000 tons per year. About 50 new jobs will be created.

"The bigger plant enables us to accompany our customers’ growth in the long run, at the highest technical level and with the best plastics," says Jurgen Becky, since May 1st, 2017 head of BASF’s business unit Performance Materials Europe. "The expanded plant represents state of the art technology in the plastics market and gives us even more flexibility in our production process." At the same time, the additional capacity increases flexibility in the global production network of BASF. Thus BASF can, for example, meet the higher expectations of the automotive industry when it comes to the production of high-volume components. With the expansion, Schwarzheide is the site with the biggest PA and PBT compounding capacity within BASF globally.

The engineering plastics Ultramid and Ultradur are used to make high-performance components for the automotive, electrical and electronics industries, as well as for the construction and furniture sectors. The components include oil pans, engine mounts, sensors and connectors, chairs and fastening elements. Latest innovations are the specialty Ultramid Advanced N, the charge air duct made of the high-temperature polyamide Ultramid Endure in the new Alfa Romeo Giulia and the TeamUP design chair for the office of the future.

As MRC reported earlier, in August 2016, BASF has introduced tailored polyamide portfolio for the charge-air duct in modern combustion engines. The reductions in fuel consumption and emissions which are prescribed by law in many countries are forcing the automotive industry to act. Besides developing alternative drives, the optimization of traditional combustion engines continues to play a key role. Downsizing results in higher pressures and temperatures, especially in components that carry air behind the turbocharger. BASF is responding to this development in engine designs with a consistent portfolio of PA6 and PA66 grades that meet the higher demands on the materials, their mechanical properties and temperature resistance.

BASF operates Ultramid polymerization plants in Ludwigshafen, Germany; Antwerp, Belgium; Freeport, Texas and Sao Paulo, Brazil. In May 2015, the company inaugurated its new Ultramid (polyamide 6 and 6/6.6) polymerization plant at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park in Shanghai, China. The production of polyamide for film, textile and carpet fiber as well as for engineering plastics applications is integrated into BASF’s global Verbund structure with polyamide intermediates (i.e. adipic acid, anolon, caprolactam), chemical raw materials (i.e. ammonia, cyclohexane, sulfuric acid), energy, by-product recovery, logistics and other services.
MRC