Yip’s Chemical said that it has signed an agreement to sell a 51% effective interest in Handsome Chemical, a subsidiary of its solvents business, to investment firm PAG for around Chinese yuan (CNY) 2.3bn, said the company.
Solvents producer Handsome Chemical will leverage its partnership with Hong Kong-based PAG to construct a 600,000 tonne/year acetic acid plant at Jingmen Chemical Recycling Industrial Park in Hubei, China, it said in a statement. The project is expected to cost around CNY1.74bn.
"The added capacity of acetic acid production will ensure the sufficient supply of raw materials for Handsome Chemical, and also allow for flexible operations by adjusting the amount of acetic acid consumed internally or sold to the market," it said.
We remind, Jiangmen Handsome Chemical Development has commissioned its new 200,000 tonne/year ethyl acetate (etac) plant at Taixing in Jiangsu province, after achieving stable operations during a trial run. The producer has also closed its older, 120,000 tonne/year etac plant at Taixing, as planned. This means a net etc capacity increase by 80,000 tonnes/year. Meanwhile, Jiangmen is continuing to run its 60,000 tonne/year butyl acetate (butac) plant at Taixing. At Jiangmen in the southern province of Guangdong, Jiangmen Handsome operates a plant that can produce 300,000 tonnes/year of etac and 120,000 tonnes/year of butac.
Handsome Chemical is the world's largest acetate solvents producer, with an annual production capacity of more than 1.6m tonnes, according to Yip's Chemical. Handsome Chemical will source carbon monoxide, one of the key feedstocks for acetic acid, from Yingde Gases, part of PAG-controlled AirPower Technologies Group, China’s largest supplier of industrial gases, which is also located in Jingmen Park. The strategic gas supply agreement between the two parties is expected to be finalised in the coming weeks.
Yip's Chemical Holdings Ltd. operates as an investment holding company, which engages in the production and selling of petrochemical products. It operates through the following segments: Solvents, Coatings, Inks, Lubricants and Properties. The Solvents segment engages in the manufacturing and trading of solvents and related products such as ethyl acetate, butyl acetate, ethanol, and thinners.
mrchub.com