Spainish La Seda de Barcelona files for insolvency

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Spain's La Seda de Barcelona, LSB, which makes plastic bottles in Europe, Turkey and North Africa, said on Monday it would begin insolvency proceedings after failing to reach a deal with creditors, said Reuters.

A record 2,500 Spanish companies squeezed by a deep recession filed for insolvency in the first three months of this year, hurting lenders as they take ever bigger provisions against losses on loans, eating into profits.

Catalonia-based LSB said it has been in talks with its lenders since September last year after its business ran into trouble because of high raw materials costs and excess supply of the PET plastic containers that it makes.

La Seda had a debt load of just EUR600 million (USD800 million) at the end of 2012, including debt to providers, according to company filings.

U.S. hedge fund Anchorage is La Seda's single biggest creditor, after it bought 37% of the company's syndicated loans on the secondary market, a source familiar with the restructuring talks said.

The group has EUR462 million in syndicated loans from banks, according to Reuters loan market news and analysis service RLPC. Of that, a EUR235 million portion needed to be restructured, the source close to the talks said.

Portuguese banks Caixa Geral and BCP are also big lenders, while HSBC and Spain's nationalised Catalunya Banc also feature among prominent creditors.

RLPC reported in late May that La Seda would face insolvency if creditors failed to back a restructuring plan put forward by Anchorage, which offered to inject EUR30 million in the business in exchange for 82% of its equity.

La Seda de Barcelona said in a statement that a refinancing plan had failed to get the backing it needed from 75 percent of creditors.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In an update on its current business situation, insolvent PVC producer Kem One - the spun-off Arkema business - said production has returned to near-normal levels at all of its plants, following the resumption of ethylene supply, said Chemanager-online.

As part of a compromise agreement in the long-running dispute between the company's former owner Arkema and its current owner, Swiss-based Klesch, over the state of the business's finances at the time of acquisition a year ago, the insolvency administrator asked Arkema's parent, French oil and petrochemical producer Total, to continue ethylene supply at a rebate against the contract reference price.

Noting that the insolvency proceedings initially due to be concluded in mid-June are "on schedule," Kem One - without naming names - hinted that "several potential buyers" have shown interest in the company. Also without naming names, it added that the financial situation is improving, thanks to the support pledged for the duration of the proceedings.

Arkema had promised the insolvency administrator and the French government to contribute EUR68 million to keep the PVC producer afloat until a new owner has been found. In April, reports said EUR105 million was regarded as necessary to keep production going for a six-month period.

Kem One also praised its customers for their confidence and employees for their dedication. The entire workforce is committed not only to maintaining a high level of customer service but also to finding sustainable solutions for the group, it said. Earlier this year, the company's unions made headlines by setting tires afire in front of production facilities and corporate headquarters.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Foster Wheeler has signed a cooperation agreement with Clariant and Wison Engineering to build a pilot plant to demonstrate Foster Wheeler’s VESTA substitute natural gas (SNG) technology, according to Hydrocarbonpocessing.

The pilot plant will be constructed in China and is planned to go on-stream during 2013. The plant will be operated by Wison Engineering.

Under this agreement, Wison Engineering will provide engineering and construction services, Foster Wheeler will license the technology, and Clariant will supply the proprietary developed catalyst.

"This exciting technology provides optimized solutions to secure future clean energy in China," said Stefan Heuser, general manager of Clariant's catalysts business. "We are very pleased to have Wison Engineering with its outstanding reputation and impressive recent development to join Clariant and Foster Wheeler as our strong partner in China."

"By leveraging Foster Wheeler’s global expertise and technological strength as well as Clariant’s strong innovation in catalyst technology, we’ll continue to build up our capabilities in coal-to-chemical sector and will be well positioned to seize the favorable market opportunities in the domestic and overseas markets," said Liu Haijun, senior vice president of Wison Engineering.

The cooperation agreement also sets out a framework for long-term cooperation to deliver and build methanation plants in China based on VESTA technology.

Foster Wheeler says its VESTA SNG technology is a novel methanation technology designed to produce SNG from synthesis gas obtained from gasification of either coal or petroleum coke. The VESTA technology is based on once-through operation with no recirculation, avoiding expensive compressors, and is designed to be simple and safe to operate and to be implemented at a low total investment cost, according to company officials.

We remind that, as MRC reported previously, in early 2013, Lanxess had awarded a subsidiary of Foster Wheeler's Global Engineering and Construction Group an engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCm) contract for a new ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) rubber plant to be built in Jiangsu Province, China.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Perlon-Monofil GmbH, belongs to the High Performance Materials (HPM) business unit of specialty chemicals group Lanxess, will raise its prices worldwide for synthetic monofilaments by a minimum of 5% depending on the field of application and grade from July 1, 2013, reported Lanxess in its press-release.

According to supplier data, products from Perlon-Monofil are noted for their weather resistance, strength, elongation properties, load-bearing capacity and overall resistance properties. Typical applications include rope manufacture, sports fishing, the paper and sports goods industries, and fences, bracings and guy ropes in agriculture.

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, in early June, Lanxess inaugurated its new butyl rubber plant on Jurong Island in Singapore on schedule. The specialty chemicals company has invested approximately EUR400 million in the plant, which will have a capacity of 100,000 tonnes per year.

Perlon-Monofil GmbH belongs to the High Performance Materials (HPM) business unit of specialty chemicals company LANXESS. It manufactures an extensive range of polyamide and polyester monofilament products for a wide variety of applications, and markets them worldwide under the brand names Perlon, Atlas and Bayco. The plastic wires are used for the production of durable technical fabrics, cords and ropes with outstanding dimensional stability and high strength.

LANXESS is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR 9.1 billion in 2012 and roughly 17,400 employees in 31 countries. The company is currently represented at 50 production sites worldwide. The core business of LANXESS is the development, manufacturing and marketing of plastics, rubber, intermediates and specialty chemicals. LANXESS posted lower earnings in the first quarter of 2013 as expected due to a weak market environment, particularly in the tire and automotive industries. First-quarter sales were down by 12% year-on-year to EUR 2.1 billion, mainly due to lower volumes and fallen selling prices.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Petrochemical hubs of Jubail and Yanbu in the United Arab Emirates are seeking investment of more than 300 billion riyal (approx USD80 billion) from national and international investors, said Fibre2fashion.

The upcoming projects are open for foreign investments worth USD50 billion in Jubail Industrial City and USD25 billion in Yanbu Industrial City, said Dr. Alaa A Nassif, CEO of Royal Commission at Yanbu.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Annual Investors Meeting of the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu (RCJY), Dr. Nassif said the two industrial cities offer a large number of investment opportunities in the petrochemical sector of Saudi Arabia.

He added that the petrochemical hub of Yanbu has major scope for investors. So far, the industrial developers have invested over USD10 billion in Yanbu region.

The Jubail Industrial City has the world’s fourth largest petrochemical company. A refinery is being built in the region, which will have a capacity to process over 1 million tons of petrochemicals, including paraxylene, polymer-grade propylene and benzene, annually.

The parks will generate more employment (up to 6 times) than the upstream industry, making low investments, compared to upstream petrochemical investments. They will bridge the economic gap between petrochemicals and the key demand sectors (automotive, packaging, and construction), and provide easy access to European and Asian end markets.

The UAE has an overall petrochemical production capacity of 6.1 million tons, which is 4.8 percent of the Middle East region’s total capacity.

MRC