Amcor buys Indonesian packaging firm Bella

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Packaging giant Amcor Ltd. has entered into an agreement to buy an Indonesian flexible packaging business, Jakarta-based Bella Prima Packaging Ltd., for USD25.2 million, said Plasticsnews.

Bella Prima has two plants in Jakarta specializing in heat-shrinkable plastic film, PVC shrinkable tubes, multi-color shrink labels, tamper-evident seals for dairy, food, cosmetic, pharmaceutical and household products, nylon laminated vacuum packaging bags, oriented polypropylene wraparound labels and food-grade tandem laminated lids.
An Amcor news release said Bella Prima sales in the year to Dec. 31, 2013, were about USD28 million.

Amcor already has a flexibles packaging plant in Jakarta which manufactures products for the food, household, personal care and farmer end markets. Amcor investor relations manager Tracey Whitehead told Plastics News the plant’s sales are about USD40 million a year.

Amcor’s release said the acquisition complements the existing operations because it "broadens Amcor’s participation strategy with its multinational and local customers" and adds to the domestic talent pool.

Whitehead said it is a "clean acquisition" and Amcor will continue to operate three separate plants.
Amcor’s managing director and CEO Ken MacKenzie said: "Indonesia is an attractive market for flexible packaging given its rising per capita income and changing retail formats".

"The Bella Prima acquisition gives Amcor the opportunity to broaden its product portfolio in attractive end-market segments and deepen our relationships with key customers. Given the expected synergy benefits, it is anticipated returns will exceed 20 percent by year three."

Amcor says the purchase price is seven times Bella’s earnings before income depreciation and amortization for 2013.

As MRC wrote before, Amcor Ltd. was looking to expand in India through another acquisition.
Melbourne, Australia-based Amcor is negotiating with Chennai, India-based Murugappa Group to buy its Tuflex division, which makes flexible packaging.

Amcor Limited is an Australian-based multinational packaging company. It operates manufacturing plants in 42 countries. It is the world's largest manufacturer of plastic bottles.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Arkema, a France-based chemical manufacturer and the world’s second leading producer of organic peroxides, , has inaugurated a new electrolysis unit at the company’s Jarrie plant near Grenoble, France, as per Arkema's press release.

The commissioning of the plant marks a new milestone in the site’s modernisation. This EUR100 m investment has enabled the facility to adapt to the latest regulations on industrial risks and to convert its mercury electrolysis to the membrane technology, thereby pre-empting the mandatory deadline by several years.

Jarrie ranks among the world’s leading hydrogen peroxide sites and is also positioned in the chlorine and derivatives market.

At the same time, the conversion of mercury cell electrolysis to membrane electrolysis pre-empts by several years the mandatory deadline for the phase-out of mercury cell electrolysis operations by end 2019. Furthermore, the site’s energy efficiency has improved.

As MRC informed previously, in January 2014, Arkema announced the construction of a new organic peroxide plant on its Changshu site in China. This investment will help double the site’s production capacity. By doubling its production capacity in China, Arkema will continue to support the strong growth in the organic peroxide market in Asia, a region in which the group is also a producer in India, South Korea and Japan.

Arkema with annual revenue of EUR6.4 billion is a leading European supplier of chlorochemicals and PVC. Kynar and Kynar Flex are registered trademarks of Arkema Inc. Arkema operates 11 organic peroxide plants on the three continents.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Jacobs Engineering Group has received a contract from Borealis to provide engineering, procurement, project management and construction management services for a project to increase cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) capacity at its manufacturing site in Stenungsund, Sweden, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Company officials did not disclose the contract value.

Under the terms of the contract, Jacobs is working to debottleneck an existing XLPE compounding and soaking train and increase the intermediate storage capacity of the XLPE base resin in the upstream polymerization plant.

The scope of work involves installation of new silos and conversion of film silos, as well as installation of conveying systems.

"We are pleased to continue to support Borealis in its mission to provide high-quality products that create value for society," said Jacobs vice president Mark Bello. "Because we perform a portfolio of other projects for them, we are able to leverage our experience with their XLPE technology and their Stenungsund cracker plant and maximize the value we can provide on this project."

Borealis’ proprietary XLPE technology creates plastic of a high level of purity.

Borealis’ Stenungsund facilities include a PE plant, a cracker for ethylene and propylene production, and an innovation center focused on research and development for infrastructure markets.

As MRC informed before, last summer, Borealis and Borouge, the world's leading providers of innovative, value-creating solutions for the wire and cable industry, announced the dedicated roll-out of the technology platform Borlink in Russia.

Borealis is a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers. The only polyethylene (PE) producer in Sweden, Borealis’ Stenungsund facilities include a PE plant, a cracker for ethylene and propylene production, and an innovation center focused on research and development for infrastructure markets.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chemical maker Williams is considering adding a second ethane cracker at the company’s Geismar complex and is looking to partner with one or two other firms on the project, said Plastemart.

"We’re out in the market right now trying to assess the market’s interest in participating in an investment there," John Dearborn, Williams’ senior vice president of NGL and petchem services, said during a May 1 conference call with stock analysts and investors.

Geismar 1, the existing ethane cracker, has been expanded about as much as possible, Dearborn said.

The plan is to build a new, large cracker - Geismar 2 - and sell its production on a fee-for-service basis. The cost of the project and its production capacity were not disclosed.

Ethylene is used in shrink wrap and food packaging. Abundant supplies of low-cost natural gas have prompted companies to switch to gas as the feedstock for ethylene.

Williams plans to restart Geismar 1 in June, close to a year after an explosion shut down the facility.

Williams is one of North America"s largest natural gas gatherers and processors. Williams also has a growing midstream business in Canada focused on processing oil sands off-gas into NGLs and olefins. It also has a domestic olefins business that provides customers in the petrochemical industry with a full suite of products and services.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Solvay and AkzoNobel have joined forces with EY (Ernst & Young) to jointly develop a monitoring system that tracks and quantifies the use of renewable raw materials in paints, coatings and other applications, said Solvay in its press release.

The partnership builds on last year’s agreement between AkzoNobel and Solvay, whereby the company progressively increases the use of Solvay’s bio-based epichlorohydrin, or Epicerol, in its coatings products.

Rather than buying Epicerol directly from Solvay, AkzoNobel obtains epoxy resins from a number of intermediate producers. The company then uses these epoxy resins as ingredients in various coatings.

Under this new agreement, Solvay, AkzoNobel and EY will develop a "chain of custody methodology" to ensure that even in situations where no physical segregation of petro and bio-based materials is practiced, volumes may still be assigned and reported.

"This is a vital next step to measure and share with partners our progress in using Solvay’s bio-based epichlorohydrin," explained Peter Nieuwenhuizen, AkzoNobel’s Director of Innovation and Partnerships.

Epicerol has a substantially lower carbon footprint than fossil-produced epichlorohydrin and is already used in AkzoNobel’s coating products worldwide. By 2016, the company aims to source 20% of its total epichlorohydrin demand as bio-based material.

As MRC wrote before, AkzoNobel and Solvay have signed a three-year agreement whereby AkzoNobel will increase the use of renewable raw materials in its paints and coatings, building on an existing partnership between the two companies.

Solvay Specialty Polymers manufactures 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 - for use in aerospace, alternative energy, automotive, healthcare, membranes, oil and gas, packaging, plumbing, semiconductors, wire and cable, and other industries.

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.
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