Reliance Industries to sell textile business

(yarnsandfibers) -- Reliance industries (RIL), India's largest private sector company, has decided to sell its textiles business, including its iconic brand Only Vimal. The Mukesh Ambani-led company has hired NM Rothschild to manage the sale of the business, a top official directly involved with the proposed transaction said.

The textiles business, including a factory at Naroda near Ahmedabad, is expected to be sold by the end of the year. Though loss-making now, textiles constitute the cornerstone of the Ambani legend - the rags-to-riches story of the group's founder, the late Dhirubhai Ambani. Set up in 1966 by Dhirubhai and his brother Ramniklal, the unit contributes less than Rs 2,000 crore, or just over 2 per cent, to the group's annual turnover of Rs 85,000 crore. "We do not comment on market rumours," said a company spokesperson.

A source in the group said the group does not wish to be in any business in which the annual returns are less than 12 per cent. "We would rather invest that money in bank deposits," the source said, asking not to be identified.

The top management of the group is also not happy with the frequent labour trouble at the Naroda factory. In April this year, employees at the factory went on a strike seeking a 60 per cent rise in wages.

The Only Vimal brand is being sold to make the textiles unit more attractive for potential buyers. The brand was the first to use cricketers as brand ambassadors. The likes of former Australian captain Allan Border and legendary West Indian batsman Vivian Richards endorsed the brand.
MRC

(Reuters) - Asia's top naphtha buyer, Taiwan's Formosa Petrochemical Corp, is expected to restart two of its three naphtha crackers in about 10 to 14 days following an outage that forced the shutdown of the units this week, traders said on Friday.

Formosa had asked to defer some of its naphtha feedstock shipments but it was not clear if sellers had agreed, they added. The volumes to be deferred were also unclear. Traders estimated that the shutdown of the No 2 and No 3 crackers for about two weeks would result in a demand loss of around 200,000 tonnes of naphtha.

In the first half of May, Formosa had already asked for at least 150,000 tonnes of naphtha shipments to be deferred after it cut its operating rates at its cracking complex because of weak petrochemical margins. Its No 3 cracker resumed operations in mid-June after shutting unexpectedly around May 30.

"Formosa has stopped buying spot because of the series of events that affected its production," said a trader. "Now, if they defer more cargoes, the naphtha market will crash further, for sure."

Asia's naphtha margins, which stood at a premium of USD20.10 a tonne on Thursday, have lost almost 89 percent of their value from this year's high of USD182.63 a tonne on Feb. 29, felled by higher supplies and lower demand.

Formosa operates a 2.93-million tonnes per year (tpy) cracking complex in Mailiao. Its 700,000 tpy No 1 cracker was shut on June 19 for a planned maintenance before the outage happened.

The other two crackers, namely the 1.03-million tpy No 2 unit and the 1.2 million-tpy No 3 cracker, were shut the following day because of the outage.

It also operates a 540,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery at Mailiao. Operations at the refinery were not affected by the outage, traders said.
MRC

(Reuters) - Speciality chemicals company Clariant said it aims to implement strategic options for three business units within 18 months in an ongoing effort to improve margins as it grapples with sluggish demand and the strong Swiss franc.

The Swiss group said in February it would organise three units - textile chemicals, paper specialities and emulsions, detergents & intermediates - to be independently run. Options include a sale or entering into a joint venture, Clariant said.

The group also reiterated its goal to increase operating profit margins to above 17 percent by 2015 from the 13.2 percent achieved in 2011, and to achieve a return on invested capital above its peer group average through innovation and by growing market share in emerging markets like India and China.

The chemical industry's dependence on highly cyclical machinery makers, car manufacturers and builders makes it especially vulnerable to economic downturns.

The company also said its acquisition of Sued-Chemie had already contributed significantly to the company's results in 2011, and would be accretive to earnings in 2013 by when synergies from its integration were expected to contribute an additional 90-115 million Swiss francs to operating earnings.
MRC

(tc-plastic) -- In line with its strategy to focus on specialty chemicals and ingredients, Azelis has announced the sale of the Thermoplastic Polymers Business Area within the Azelis Group to Gazechim Plastics who has acquired this business. This transfer means Gazechim Plastics is now managing in its entirety the Thermoplastic Polymers business and its employees, effective May 15th.

Gazechim Group was deemed to be the ideal partner to sell the business to, as they were looking to complement their already strong presence in thermoplastic and thermoset products, refrigerant and liquefied gases, with a leading polymers offering. With an established polymers business in France, they have a stated strong vision and strategy to develop a fully pan-European platform in polymers and are ready to invest in this area for the future growth and development of products and people. As part of the agreement, in some countries Azelis will grant services to the business to help provide a smooth transition.

Michel Dubois, Group Director Strategy and Marketing, states: "I would like to take this opportunity to thank our principals in Thermoplastic Polymers for their help and support over the last years and for their cooperation in the sale of the business. We are confident that Gazechim will remain a suitable distribution partner, committed to successfully growing a sustainable polymers business".
MRC

(plastemart) -- Partial production suspension at some units of Formosa’s Yunlin petrochemical complex due to a power failure could impact the combined sales of its four core companies. The loss is estimated at NTD9 bln (USD301 mln), as per Taipie Times.

The shutdown is also estimated to result in a loss of NTD100 mln to Nan Ya Plastics, the nation’s largest plastics maker, and to Formosa Chemicals, which produces aromatics and styrenics, but will not affect Formosa Petrochemical.MRC