Sirmax acquired all shares in thermoplastic compounds producer Nord Color

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Italian compounder Sirmax (Cittadella) is continuing to grow its footprint. In a deal the financial details of which were not disclosed, the company recently acquired all shares in thermoplastic compounds producer Nord Color (San Vito al Tagliamento / Italy), said Plasteurope.

The purchase of the latter – which caters to the automotive, E&E, furniture, construction and sports & leisure industries – not only consolidates Sirmax’s growth strategy, it also complements and expands the company’s own PP compounds product range.

Founded in 1981, Nord Color’s 70 employees specialise in the manufacture of thermoplastic compounds for technical applications. The company posted sales of almost EUR 35m in 2015, and has overall production capacity of 12,000 t/y.

New owner Sirmax – which last year set up its first plant in the US (see Plasteurope.com of 21.01.2015) – said it posted revenues of EUR 210m in 2015, a rise of 31%. Output came to 132,000 t – which also worked out to be a year-on-year rise of 20%. The company said that following the start-up of operations at its plant in Anderson, Indiana / USA and the Nord Color purchase, it anticipates 2016 revenues to come to EUR 260m, with output pegged at 175,000 t – putting it firmly on the path to achieving its 2018 target of EUR 300m in sales.

As MRC informed earlier, the future of the short fiber thermoplastic (SFT) composites market looks attractive with opportunities in the transportation, consumer goods, and electrical/electronics industries. The global short fiber thermoplastics market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 4.5% from 2016 to 2021.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Japan's Prime Polymer will start mass production of polyethylene (PE) used for food-packing film in Singapore as early as August after a one-year delay, as per Nikkei Asain Review.

Equipment problems at feedstock provider Royal Dutch Shell postponed the planned August 2015 opening of the plant for making advanced PE Evolue. With operations at Shell's facilities expected to resume in July, the Tokyo-based company will bring the plant online.

Prime Polymer has spent some 10 billion yen (USD92.9 mln) to build the Singaporean plant, which will have an annual capacity of 300,000 tons.

The company currently produces about 300,000 tons of Evolue yearly in Chiba Prefecture. The new plant in Southeast Asia will allow the capacity in Chiba to be used for trial production of new film materials.

Prime Evolue was established in 2012 for the sales and production of Mitsui Chemical’s Evolue LLDPE in Singapore. The venture, owned 80% by Prime Polymer and 20% by Mitsui, and with a capital of USD115-million, built a 300,000-t/y Evolue production unit, as MRC wrote previously. Initially, construction was scheduled for completion in December 2014, with commercial operations to start during the second quarter of 2015.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Following an order issued in May by Shanghai's Environmental Protection Bureau, Oriental Petrochemical (Shanghai) Corporation has to reduce the operating rate of its 750,000 tpa purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant in Shanghai from August 23 onwards, and will halt production completely between August 28 and September 7, as per Plastemart.

Limits on operations at petrochemical plants in Shanghai, Ningbo and Hangzhou in anticipation of the G20 Summit, are expected to affect PTA as well as downstream polyester supply over August and September, market sources said. All polyester [plants] in the Hangzhou region will probably be shut, so the supply-demand balance from now till then will be completely distorted," a source with a Chinese PTA producer said.

Another PTA producer estimated there was more than 20 mln mt/year of polyester production capacity around Hangzhou, but added that it was not yet clear how much of the capacity would be affected.

In Ningbo, companies had up to May 26 to respond, and details have yet to be confirmed, but several PTA plants face a potential shutdown over the period, sources said. Based on the preliminary proposal, Zhejiang Yisheng Petrochemical has been asked to stop all production of PTA, amounting to a total capacity of 5.5 mln mt/year. Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corporation and Ningbo Mitsubishi Chemical Co. Ltd. are also expected to have to cut all production of PTA, with capacity of 1.2 mln mt/year and 600,000 mt/year, respectively.

The limits on Shanghai will take effect from August 24 to September 6, while details of Ningbo's restrictions have yet to be confirmed.

We remind that, as MRC wrote earlier, in March 2016, China's Hanbang Petrochemical successfully started up its second PTA unit and production operations are ongoing. The plant is currently running one of its two production lines, each with an annual capacity of 1.1 million mt/year.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Swedish industrial group Trelleborg has completed its SEK 10.9 bn (EUR 1.17 bn) acquisition of CGS Holding (Prague / Czech Republic) – a privately-owned company with leading positions in agricultural, industrial, speciality tyres and engineered polymer solutions.

The deal was initially announced in November 2015.

Peter Nilsson, Trelleborg president and CEO, said: "It is highly gratifying to welcome CGS to the Trelleborg Group. The company has long been on our list of interesting acquisitions. (...) CGS’s engineered polymer solutions add new interesting positions as well as strengthen Trelleborg’s existing leading positions in several of the group’s current business areas."

CGS Holding includes the businesses Mitas, Rubena and Savatech. Mitas accounts for approximately two-thirds of group sales, which totalled around SEK 5.6 bn in the 12 months ended June 2015, and has strong mid-market speciality tyre brands. Mitas will be integrated into the Trelleborg wheel systems business area. During the transition, other activities will remain independent from Trelleborg’s existing operations before being gradually integrated into current business areas.

Following the acquisition, Trelleborg will have sales of about SEK 30 bn, with around 23,000 employees in 47 countries.

As MRC informed earlier, Trelleborg worked with offshore construction company McDermott to develop a new range of diver-friendly piggyback clamp designed to improve safety during installation of underwater pipelines. Molded from marine-grade polypropylene, the piggyback saddle can fit carrier pipelines from 20" - 42" and line sizes from 1.25" to 3.5". The one-size-fits-all design of the clamp can streamline purchasing, enabling zero-waste bulk ordering.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Borealis, a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers, has announced a EUR 40 million investment to upgrade its steam cracker in Porvoo, Finland, said the producer on its site.

The upgrade will enhance the cracker's energy efficiency, yield higher production capacities for propylene and crude C4, and enable an overall higher production quality of propylene.

In Porvoo, Finland, Borealis operates one of the most flexible, fully-integrated crackers in Europe. The investment in the cracker will further enhance its performance by boosting capacity and improving energy efficiency. The project is scheduled for completion in the third quarter of 2017. The production capacity of propylene and crude C4 will increase by 30 kilotonnes per annum and 10 kilotonnes per annum, respectively. The project will also upgrade the quality of all produced propylene to polymer grade, thereby increasing value as well as productivity in the adjacent polypropylene production plant.

"Investing in upgrades and capacity expansion at strategic Borealis production locations such as Porvoo enables us to improve the competitiveness of our strong, integrated polyolefins business in Europe," explains Markku Korvenranta, Borealis Executive Vice President Base Chemicals. "Through continuous investments, Borealis is securing its position among the most innovative and reliable polyethylene and polypropylene suppliers in Europe."

Flexible, integrated steam crackers and their associated production units form the backbone of the Borealis olefins and polyolefins portfolio in Europe. Borealis sources basic feedstocks such as naphtha, butane, propane and ethane from the oil and gas industry and converts these into ethylene, propylene and other high value hydrocarbons. It also produces propylene in a propane dehydrogenation plant in Kallo, Belgium.

As MRC informed previously, in June 2015, Borealis announced progress made to date on the start-up of the third phase expansion of its Borouge joint venture with Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi. By the end of 2014, the 1.5-million-t/y ethylene cracker, as well as three of the five polyolefin plants had started production. During the first quarter of this year, Borouge continued this process with the start-up of its high-pressure polyethylene plant. The Borouge 3 expansion includes two Borstar enhanced PE plants with a combined capacity of 1.08-million t/y, a 350,000-t/y low-density PE plant and two Borstar enhanced polypropylene facilities having a total capacity of 960,000 t/y.

Borealis is a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers. With headquarters in Vienna, Austria, Borealis currently employs around 6,500 and operates in over 120 countries. It generated EUR 8.3 billion in sales revenue in 2014.
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