Sika has agreed to sell Aliva Equipment

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sika has agreed to sell Aliva Equipment, a Swiss unit supplying machines for the application of shotcrete, to Normet Group Oy, a Finnish global company providing solutions for underground construction, said the company.

In 2021, Aliva Equipment generated sales of CHF 12 million. Aliva is a leading manufacturer of machines and accessories for the application of shotcrete, supplying customers through a wide network of dealers. With the equipment business only representing a small part of Group sales, Sika has decided to sell Aliva to an owner where it will be part of the core business. Normet Group is a global provider of equipment and services for underground construction. For Normet, the acquisition will provide improved presence in the DACH region, access to Aliva’s global dealer network, and an expanded portfolio of high-quality products.

"With Normet Group, Sika has found the right strategic owner for the Aliva Equipment business. Normet is specialized in underground construction and will expand investments in the long-term development of the Aliva business, its people, products, and technologies. Being a part of the core business of a global company will open up new opportunities for the strategic development of Aliva and its employees. Customers can continue to rely on the availability of high-quality equipment and support in the future."

As MRC reported previously, Sika has recently closed the transaction related to the divestment of the European industrial coatings business. The deal, which includes Sika's European industrial coatings business with the main location and manufacturing facility in Vaihingen, Germany, was announced on 19 August last year.

We remind that earlier this year, Sika acquired Canada’s Sable Marco Inc, which manufactures cementitious products and mortars, for an undisclosed amount. Sable Marco is headquartered in Pont Rouge, near Quebec City, and generates annual sales of Swiss francs (Swfr) 20m (USD22m). The acquisition “should open up new opportunities for Sika in the eastern region of Canada and clearly improve Sika’s access to the retail distribution channel,” the company said.

We also remind that Sika commissioned a manufacturing facility in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), which produces epoxy resins aimed at flooring solutions. Sika has decided to invest in the expansion of its manufacturing facilities at the Dubai site in order to increase flexibility in production, shorten delivery times, optimize cost structures, and reduce inventories.

Sika is a specialty chemicals company with a leading position in the development and production of systems and products for bonding, sealing, damping, reinforcing, and protecting in the building sector and motor vehicle industry. Sika has subsidiaries in 101 countries around the world and manufactures in over 200 factories.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- MOL Group, has teamed up with Plug Power Inc. , a leading provider of turnkey hydrogen solutions for the global green hydrogen economy, to build one of Europe’s largest-capacity green hydrogen production facilities at MOL’s Danube Refinery in Szazhalombatta, Hungary, said the company.

Green hydrogen will reduce the carbon footprint of the Danube Refinery operation and enable emission-free mobility in the longer term.

Utilizing a 10-megawatt (MW) electrolysis unit from Plug Power, MOL’s €22 million facility will be able to produce approximately 1,600 tons of clean, carbon-neutral, green hydrogen annually, removing up to 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide by displacing the currently used natural gas-based production process. As this process represents one-sixth of the carbon dioxide emissions of MOL Group, this investment supports MOL’s carbon neutrality goals and will contribute to energy independence for the region.

Once operational in 2023, MOL will use the green hydrogen in its Danube Refinery during fuel production of its own hydrogen system. It will be incorporated into the molecules of MOL fuels, lowering the carbon outputs from the production technology and the final product.

The production of green hydrogen does not generate any greenhouse gas emissions. The Plug equipment uses electricity from a renewable source to split water into oxygen and hydrogen gas by a process called electrolysis. This process does not produce any by-products that harm the environment. By producing one ton of hydrogen, eight-to-nine tons of pure oxygen is also produced by the equipment, saving nearly 10,000 tons of natural gas consumption in the process. Plug’s electrolyzers, with nearly 50 years of operational experience in applications demanding high reliability, are modular, scalable hydrogen generators optimized for clean hydrogen production.

The company behind the world’s first and most comprehensive Green Hydrogen Ecosystem , Plug is making green hydrogen adoption simple for companies ready to improve both efficiency and sustainability of their operations. Plug’s independent green hydrogen production network is targeting 70 TPD by the end of 2022 and remains on track to have 500 TPD of green hydrogen generation network in North America by 2025 and 1,000 TPD on a global basis by 2028.

As MRC reported earlier, MOL Group (Budapest, Hungary) has recently announced that Rossi Biofuel (a joint venture wherein MOL Group and Envien Group are the 25-75% owners) inaugurated a new plant in Komarom, Hungary, which will significantly increase the biofuel production volume in the country. With this investment, MOL Group and Envien Group launched a technology in Europe that can boost greenhouse gas savings by more than 85%. With a capacity of 50,000 tons per year, the plant is the first in Europe to use the RepCat technology offered by Austrian firm BDI-BioEnergy International GmbH, which is highly flexible in terms of raw materials - it allows the processing of greasy wastes of different types and origins, such as used cooking oils, trap grease, animal fats or residues from vegetable oil production. Biodiesel produced in this way is one of the most climate-friendly fuels.

We remind that in March 2021, MOL became a biofuel producer through the realization of an investment in the Danube Refinery. Bio feedstock will be co-processed together with fossil materials increasing the renewable share of fuels and reducing up to 200,000 tons /year CO2 emission without negatively affecting fuel quality.

MOL Group is an international, integrated oil, gas, petrochemicals, and consumer retail company, headquartered in Budapest, Hungary. It is active in over 30 countries with a dynamic international workforce of 25,000 people and a track record of more than 100 years. MOL Group operates three refineries and two petrochemicals plants under integrated supply chain management in Hungary, Slovakia, and Croatia, and owns a network of almost 2000 service stations across 10 countries in Central & South-Eastern Europe.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Orion Engineered Carbons, a specialty chemical company, announced plans to build the only plant in the U.S. producing acetylene-based conductive additives – a critical link in the value chain for lithium-ion batteries, high-voltage cables and other products powering the global transition to electrification and renewable energy, said the company.

Orion’s planned facility in La Porte, Texas, south of Houston, will be backed by a long-term agreement for acetylene supplied from a neighboring site owned by Equistar Chemicals LP, a subsidiary of LyondellBasell.

Acetylene is a colorless gas widely used as a chemical building block. Orion’s production process turns acetylene into a powder, which is added to lithium-ion batteries, enhancing electrical conductivity and extending the lifetime of the most valuable component of an electric vehicle. The material plays a similar role in high-voltage cables used for wind and solar farms.

Orion will invest between USD120 million to USD140 million in the facility, expected to start up in the second half of 2024. This investment should increase the company’s conductive additives capacity by approximately 12 kilotons per year.

The company, which has a similar plant in France with locally supplied acetylene gas from LyondellBasell, is the sole producer of acetylene-based conductive additives in the European Union. The U.S. plant will bring new technology and high-skilled jobs to the country and positively impact long-term job creation for the local community. Demand for battery additives is expected to grow rapidly amid a global boom in the construction of gigafactories making lithium-ion batteries.

The plant will have a favorable environmental profile and will be subject to obtaining the routine regulatory approvals.

As per MRC, Orion Engineered Carbons (Houston, Texas) says it will raise prices by 20% globally for acetylene black after a period of investment in its production plant in France “to better serve the growing market demand for acetylene black used in lithium-ion (Li-on) battery production” . The price increase takes effect on 1 March 2021 or as contracts allow.

We remind, Orion Engineered Carbons has raised its fourth-quarter guidance for adjusted EBITDA earnings to a range of USD64-67 million from the previously issued range of USD44-55 million given during its third quarter results on 5 November.

Orion Engineered Carbons is a worldwide supplier of Carbon Black. The company offers standard and high-performance products for Coatings, Printing Inks, Polymers, Rubber and other applications. Our high-quality Gas Blacks, Furnace Blacks and Specialty Carbon Blacks tint, colorize and enhance the performance of plastics, paints and coatings, inks and toners, adhesives and sealants, tires, and manufactured rubber goods such as automotive belts and hoses.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- MOL’s petrochemicals division’s first-quarter clean current cost of supplies (CCS) earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) dropped 35% year on year on lower margins, said the company.

Q1 2022 petrochemical product sales stood at 359,000 tonnes, versus 381,000 tonnes in the same period of last year and 349,000 tonnes in Q4 2021. MOL said higher oil prices were mainly behind the petrochemical integrated margin decline of EUR180/tonne between the first quarters of last year and this year.

The polyol complex that MOL has under construction reached a mechanical completion ratio of 96% by the first quarter. Overall MOL, an integrated oil, gas and petrochemicals group, recorded a net profit of Hungarian forint (Ft) 222.6bn (USD624.2m) in the first quarter, up by 145% from a restated Ft90.8bn in Q1 2021.

Fourth-quarter group net sales were up 79% year on year to Ft1.93tr.

As per MRC, MOL Group acquired ReMat Zrt., a recycler with production plants located in Tiszaujvaros and Rakamaz, Hungary, and a logistics hub in Bratislava, Slovakia. ReMat is a market leading plastics recycler in Hungary with an annual processing capacity of 25,000 tons and almost 200 employees, as per the company's press release.
The transaction fits into MOL’s portfolio and its goal to become a key player in the low carbon circular economy in Central and Eastern Europe.

We remind that in March 2021, MOL became a biofuel producer through the realization of an investment in the Danube Refinery. Bio feedstock will be co-processed together with fossil materials increasing the renewable share of fuels and reducing up to 200,000 tons /year CO2 emission without negatively affecting fuel quality.

MOL Group is an international, integrated oil, gas, petrochemicals and consumer retail company, headquartered in Budapest, Hungary. It is active in over 30 countries with a dynamic international workforce of 25,000 people and a track record of more than 100 years. MOL Group operates three refineries and two petrochemicals plants under integrated supply chain management in Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia, and owns a network of almost 2000 service stations across 10 countries in Central & South Eastern Europe. MOL’s exploration and production activities are supported by more than 85 years’ experience in the field of hydrocarbons and more than 30 years in the injection of CO2. At the moment, there are production activities in 9 countries and exploration assets in 14 countries. MOL is committed to transform its traditional fossil-fuel-based operations into a low-carbon, sustainable business model and aspires to become net carbon neutral by 2050 while shaping the low-carbon circular economy in Central-and Eastern Europe.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Trinseo expects its second-quarter earnings to be similar to those in the first quarter, said the company.

On the one hand, Trinseo expects higher profitability for styrene, larger margins for its Engineered Materials segment and increased sales volumes for latex binders, said Frank Bozich, CEO. He made his comments during an earnings conference call.

However, margins should approach more normal levels for polystyrene (PS), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and polycarbonate (PC) products, he said. The COVID-19 shutdowns in China should hit the company's Polystyrene business. Beyond the second quarter, styrene margins should approach more normal levels in the second half of the year, Bozich said.

During the first part of the year, those margins had been significantly elevated because of plant outages and logistical challenges, which had prevented producers from taking advantage of arbitrage opportunities in other parts of the world, Bozich said.

For all of 2022, Trinseo expects to report USD174m-221m in net income and USD625m-675m in adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA). That compares with Trinseo's previous guidance of USD294m-332m in net income from continuing operations and USD700m-750m in adjusted EBITDA. Trinseo's latest earnings guidance assumes that the demand levels in the first quarter will persist through the end of 2022, Bozich said.

As per MRC, Trinseo will use gasification technology to depolymerize post-consumer polystyrene waste into pure styrene. It’s a first-of-its-kind project on an industrial scale. Trinseo’s plant will process 15 kilotons of recycled polystyrene flakes every year. These will be transformed into high-quality recycled styrene and used for the production of new polystyrene and/or styrene derivatives, including acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and styrene acrylonitrile (SAN).

Trinseo is a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex and rubber. Trinseo's technology is used by customers in industries such as home appliances, automotive, building & construction, carpet, consumer electronics, consumer goods, electrical & lighting, medical, packaging, paper & paperboard, rubber goods and tires. Formerly known as Styron, Trinseo completed its renaming process in 1Q 2015. Trinseo had approximately $4.8 billion in net sales in 2021 and has 26 manufacturing sites and one recycling facility around the world and approximately 3,400 employees.
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