Celanese and Blackstone to form JV in acetate tow

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global technology and specialty materials company, and funds managed by Blackstone, one of the world's leading investment firms, has announced a definitive agreement to form a JV that will create a global acetate tow supplier, as per the company's press release.

Celanese and Blackstone will own 70% and 30% of the JV, respectively.

Under the terms of the agreement, Celanese will contribute its Cellulose Derivatives business unit, including its equity interest in existing JVs with China National Tobacco Corporation, and Blackstone will contribute its Rhodia Acetow business unit, which it recently acquired from Solvay. The new company is expected to generate 2017 annual pro forma revenue of approximately USD1.3 billion with around 2,400 employees. The JV will have an extended global footprint that includes eight wholly-owned manufacturing facilities and three existing JV sites.

The new company will be well positioned to meet customers' current and evolving needs efficiently while providing the highest level of quality and service. The complementary nature of the tow businesses and a combination of technology expertise will result in synergies mainly from optimization of supply chain networks and procurement of raw materials, energy, equipment, and other services.

"This is an exciting opportunity for Celanese to partner with Blackstone in a way that creates significant value for all stakeholders. The combination of these tow assets will enhance our ability to serve customers more efficiently and reliably from a global production footprint while also creating growth opportunities for employees," said Mark Rohr, chairman and chief executive officer of Celanese. "Celanese has delivered strong results in the last several years through differentiated business models. This transaction gives us the opportunity to partially monetize Cellulose Derivatives and reallocate significant capital to higher growth businesses within Celanese to accelerate our growth momentum."

Lionel Assant, Head of Private Equity Europe at Blackstone, said: "The combination of these two companies provides an excellent opportunity to create a new, international business focused on innovation and growth to the benefit of its customers and employees. We are excited to work with Celanese on this strategic development."

Upon closing, the JV will be governed by a Board of Directors consisting of three directors appointed by Celanese and two by Blackstone. The board, management team, and name of the new company will be decided at a later date.

As MRC wrote previously, in mid-June 2017, Celanese Corporation announced that it would increase prices for emulsions sold in Europe. Effective July 1, 2017, or as contracts otherwise allow, the following price increases will apply:

- EVA - EUR75/tonne;
- VAM Homopolymers (PVAC) - EUR75/tonne;
- VAM Copolymers - EUR75/tonne;
- Pure Acrylics - EUR180/tonne.

Rhodia Acetow, headquartered in Freiburg, Germany, is a global leader in cellulose acetate tow used in the manufacturing of cigarette filters. It operates plants in Germany, Brazil, France, Russia and the USA.

Celanese Corporation is a global technology leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Based in Dallas, Celanese employs approximately 7,300 employees worldwide and had 2016 net sales of USD5.4 billion.
MRC

Canada allows Dow, Dupont merger after firms agree to sell assets

MOSCOW (MRC) — Canada's Competition Bureau said on Tuesday it would allow a planned merger between DuPont and Dow Chemical Co after both firms agreed to dispose of some assets, said Reuters.

The announcement is similar to those made by US and European Union regulators, who also allowed the merger to go ahead as long as the firms made divestitures they already have outlined.

"The agreement reached today ensures that consumers and businesses continue to benefit from a dynamic marketplace," competition commissioner John Pecman said in a statement.

DuPont will sell a significant part of its global herbicides business and research and development branch to FMC Corp. Dow will sell its global business of certain specialized plastics products to SK Global Chemical Corp, the Competition Bureau said in a statement.

The bureau said the asset sales were needed to prevent a substantial lessening of competition in the supply and development of some crop protection products and specialized packaging plastics.

As MRC informed earlier, The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) will not oppose the proposed merger of The Dow Chemical Company (Dow) and E.l. Du Pont de Nemours and Company (DuPont).

DuPont is an American chemical company that was founded in July, 1802. The company manufactures a wide range of chemical products, leading extensive innovative research in this field. The company is the inventor of many unique plastics and other materials, including neoprene, nylon, Teflon, Kevlar, Mylar, Tyvek, etc. DuPont was the developer and main producer of Freon used in the production of refrigeration equipment.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation. Dow is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene, polyurethane, polyethylene, polypropylene, and synthetic rubber.
MRC

Asahi Kasei restarts SM plant in Mizushima after turnaround

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Asahi Kasei, Japan, an affiliate company of a major Japanese chemical producer Asahi Kasei Corporation, has completed a maintenance turnaround at its styrene monomer (SM) plant, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Japan informed that the company has restarted its plant last week. The plant remained under maintenance from May 7, 2017 till June 20, 2017.

Located at Mizushima, Japan, the SM plant has a production capacity of 390,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed earlier, in February 2016, Asahi Kasei shut permanently its another SM plant in Mizushima, Japan. The exact reason behind the permanent shutdown could not be ascertained. The plant had a production capacity of 320,000 mt/year.

Asahi Kasei Corporation is a global Japanese chemical company. Its main products are chemicals and materials science.
MRC

Cyber attack hits oil giant and banks in Russia and Ukraine

MOSCOW/KIEV (MRC) — Russia's top oil producer Rosneft said a large-scale cyber attack hit its servers on Tuesday and computer systems at some banks and the main airport in neighboring Ukraine were also disrupted, said Reuters.

A Moscow-based cyber security firm, Group-IB, said it appeared to be a coordinated attack simultaneously targeting victims in Russia and Ukraine.

In Copenhagen, global shipping firm Shipping company A.P. Moller-Maersk said it had suffered a computer system outage caused by a cyber attack thought it was not immediately clear if it was connected. One of the firms Group-IB said had been hit in Russia, Damco, which is Maersk's logistics company.

The latest disruptions follow a spate of hacking attempts on state websites in Ukraine in late 2016 and repeated attacks on its power grid that prompted security chiefs to call for improved cyber defenses.

Rosneft, one of the world's biggest producers of crude oil by volume, said its oil production had not been affected.

"The company's servers underwent a powerful hacking attack," the company said on Twitter. "The hacking attack could lead to serious consequences, but the company has moved to a reserve production processing system and neither oil output nor refining have been stopped."

Rosneft's website was unavailable in Moscow as of 13:25 GMT and had been offline for at least an hour before that.

Russian metals giant Evraz said its IT systems had been affected too, Russia's RIA news agency reported.

In Ukraine, Yevhen Dykhne, director of Boryspyl Airport, said it had been hit by a cyber attack. "In connection with the irregular situation, some flight delays are possible," Dykhne said in a post on Facebook.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Pavlo Rozenko said the government's computer network had gone down as well and posted a picture on Twitter of a computer screen with an error message.

The Ukrainian central bank said a number of banks and companies, including the state power distributor, were hit by a cyber attack that disrupted some operations.

"As a result of these cyber attacks these banks are having difficulties with client services and carrying out banking operations," the central bank said in a statement.
MRC

Portugal investigating fraud linked to Venezuela PDVSA funds

MOSCOW (MRC) — Portugal is investigating alleged appropriation of funds belonging to Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA that were channeled through now-defunct Portuguese bank Banco Espirito Santo between 2009 and 2014, said Reuters.

PDVSA's reputation has been tarnished in recent years by high-profile corruption investigations including guilty pleas by two US-based contractors who authorities said ran a USD1 B corruption scheme associated with PDVSA contracts.

Venezuela's opposition-led Congress last year said about USD11 B in funds went missing at PDVSA while Rafael Ramirez, currently Venezuela's UN envoy, was at the helm from 2004 to 2014. Ramirez slammed the report as "irresponsible lies."

"Portuguese law enforcement agencies are investigating supposed appropriation of funds belonging to the corporation that were channeled through the above-mentioned institution," the company said in a statement.

The investigators are reviewing operations "in which there could have been money laundering and in which former employees of PDVSA and its subsidiaries could have been involved."

PDVSA until 2014 received payments for crude deliveries at its accounts at BES, as the bank was known, according to a 2014 Reuters report that cited an internal PDVSA document.

BES collapsed in 2014. Some of its assets were used to create a new bank called Novo Banco. PDVSA had also bought USD365 MM in bonds issued by the holding company of the family of Ricardo Salgado, who was founder and president of the bank, according to a 2014 Reuters special report.

The company said it will soon provide details on efforts to seek civil and criminal measures in jurisdictions where it has "identified assets of persons involved in corruption," and said it would carry out "legal actions" in Portugal.

It did not provide details on such actions or the amounts being investigated.

PDVSA has acknowledged problems with corruption and is seeking to improve procedures but insists that ideological adversaries are exaggerating the irregularities for political gain.

"The national oil company will continue reinforcing its internal controls and implementing new mechanisms and procedures to ensure that situations like this do not occur again," the statement said.
MRC