Solvay completes acquisition of Ryton polyphenylene sulphide business

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Solvay, a privately owned multinational chemicals company, has completed the acquisition of the Ryton PPS (polyphenylene sulphide) business from US-based Chevron Phillips Chemical Company for USD220 million, enlarging its high-performance polymers offering and entering a solid growth market, as per the company's press release.

Solvay’s Global Business Unit (GBU) Specialty Polymers has bought two Ryton PPS resin manufacturing units in Borger, Texas, a pilot plant and R&D laboratories in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, as well as a compounding plant in Kallo-Beveren, Belgium with a total of about 200 employees joining the Group.

Chevron Philips Chemical’s compounding unit in La Porte, Texas, will provide temporary tolling services to Solvay, allowing for an orderly transition with the Ryton customer base.

Solvay Specialty Polymers, which has the industry’s broadest product portfolio, will access new business segments with innovative and demanding applications in transportation, automotive in particular, in electronics and in filter bags.

The acquisition is part of Solvay's strategic development to enhance its specialized solutions, deliver higher growth and greater returns while reducing cyclicality. The Ryton PPS businesses consolidated into Solvay's accounts as of January 1, 2015.

As MRC wrote before, in early December 2014, Solvay acquired Dhaymers, a Brazilian manufacturer of specialty esters, entering the skin care market and expanding its presence in industrial lubricants and mining industries in Latin America.

Solvay S.A. is a Belgian chemical company founded in 1863, with its head office in Neder-Over-Heembeek, Brussels, Belgium. The company has diversified into two major sectors of activity: chemicals and plastics. Solvay supplies 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. The group employs about 29,400 people in 56 countries and generated EUR9.9 billion in net sales in 2013.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Dear readers of MRC!

On this Christmas, the team of MRC wishes everyone happiness and prosperity on the personal and professional life.

Thank you for staying with us in 2014. It has been a pleasure helping you reach your goals, and we look forward to serving you again in the new year.

During this year, we provided reliable analytics on any changes of the polymers market in the CIS countries. We want to take a chance on this so special time to give all our readers and clients the respective thanks for your preference and trust.

We wish you a wonderful new year filled with abundance, joy, and treasured moments. We hope 2015 is a year of great happiness and success for you.

Best wishes,
MRC staff.

We will be back from holidays on 12, January, 2015.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Jacobs Engineering Group announced that it has been selected by BP to continue its role as strategic supplier of mid-cap work on a global basis, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Company officials did not disclose the contract value, but noted that it replaces Jacobs’ previous contract that has been in place since 2002.

The new contract includes two multi-year regional framework agreements, under which Jacobs is providing engineering, procurement and construction management services as well as personnel on loan at BP’s refinery, petrochemical and terminal sites globally.

Jacobs supports this work from its offices in the UK, US, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, South Africa and Australia; bringing technical expertise, a depth of global resources to support BP around the world; plus deep knowledge of BP’s facilities, practices, and business objectives.

"We are very pleased to continue our long history of supporting BP’s downstream business through these new professional services regional framework agreements," said Jacobs executive vice president Gary Mandel.

"We look forward to working with BP to achieve safe, reliable and profitable operations globally," he added.

As MRC wrote before, BP Zhuhai is in plans to start a new purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant in China. A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the plant is likely to start in Q4, 2014. The exact start-up schedule of the plant could not be ascertained. To be located in Zhuhai province, China, the plant will have a production capacity of 1.25 million mt/year.

BP is one of the world's leading international oil and gas companies, providing its customers with fuel for transportation, energy for heat and light, retail services and petrochemicals products for everyday items.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Eastman Chemical Company EMN, announced that it has completed the acquisition of Commonwealth Laminating & Coating, Inc., said the producer in its press release.

The acquired business is part of Eastman's Advanced Materials business segment, and is expected to be accretive to 2015 earnings excluding acquisition-related costs and charges.

"This acquisition will help us better serve the broad and diverse customer base for window and protective films while supporting expansion of our product offerings and the use of window films," said Brad Lich, executive vice president. "We're also very excited about adding the SunTek(R) brand to our performance films products portfolio."

The addition of Commonwealth's expertise, paint protection technology, brand and sales channels, and experienced workforce is expected to support growth of our performance films products.

"Eastman is committed to providing continued superior products, service, and support to customers worldwide as we integrate these two businesses," said Travis Smith, vice president and general manager, performance films. "We're excited to bring Commonwealth employees together with our world-class global performance films team to benefit customers and support our growth ," Smith said.

Commonwealth had 2013 sales revenue of approximately USD100 million. The acquisition includes Commonwealth's manufacturing facility and master distribution center in Martinsville, Va., and nine sales distribution centers that serve the global market.

As MRC wrote before, Eastman Chemical Company announced the completion of its acquisition of Taminco Corporation, a global specialty chemical company, for a total of USD2.8 billion in cash and assumed debt, said the producer.

Eastman is a global specialty chemical company that produces a broad range of products found in items people use every day. With a portfolio of specialty businesses, Eastman works with customers to deliver innovative products and solutions while maintaining a commitment to safety and sustainability. As a globally diverse company, Eastman serves customers in approximately 100 countries and had 2013 revenues of approximately USD9.4 billion. The company is headquartered in Kingsport, Tennessee, USA and employs approximately 14,000 people around the world.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF, the German chemicals giant, and Shell, an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company, have reached an agreement for BASF to sell its share in the 50-50 joint venture Ellba Eastern, Jurong Island, Singapore to Shell, reported BASF on its site.

The joint venture, which is operated by Shell, produces styrene monomer (SM) and propylene oxide. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. Closing is planned for December 31, 2014.

BASF remains globally committed to propylene oxide and its respective value chains. Therefore, as part of the agreement, BASF and Shell have signed a supply contract to provide BASF with the necessary volumes of propylene oxide.

ELLBA Eastern started production in 2002. The plant is fully integrated into the Shell site on Jurong Island, Singapore, and has an annual capacity of 250,000 metric tons of propylene oxide and 550,000 metric tons of styrene monomer. The ELLBA joint venture between Shell and BASF in Moerdijk, the Netherlands, is not affected by the transaction.

As MRC informed earlier, in October 2014, BASF and Archroma agreed on the sale of BASF’s global textile chemicals business to Archroma, a supplier of specialty chemicals to the textile, paper and emulsions. Archroma is a portfolio company of SK Capital Partners, a private investment firm with focus on the specialty materials, chemicals and healthcare sectors. It is planned to integrate the business into the Archroma Textile Chemicals Specialties business. Currently, the textile chemicals business is part of BASF’s Performance Chemicals division.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries. BASF had sales of about EUR74 billion in 2013 and over 112,000 employees as of the end of the year.
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