Honeywell subsidiary agrees to pay millions to resolve Houston bribery investigation

UOP LLC, doing business as Honeywell UOP, a U.S.-based subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., has agreed to pay more than USD160 million to resolve parallel bribery investigations by criminal and civil authorities in the United States and Brazil stemming from bribe payments offered to a high-ranking official at Brazil’s state-owned oil company, said Headtopics.

The U.S. Department of Justice’s resolution is coordinated with prosecutorial authorities in Brazil, as well as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

According to court documents, Honeywell UOP entered into a three-year deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with the department in connection with a criminal information filed in the Southern District of Texas charging the company with conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

According to the company’s admissions and court documents, between 2010 and 2014, Honeywell UOP conspired to offer an approximately USD4 million bribe to a then-high-ranking executive of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A (Petrobras) in Brazil. Specifically, Honeywell UOP offered the bribe to secure improper advantages in order to obtain and retain business from Petrobras in connection with Honeywell UOP’s efforts to win an approximately USD425 million contract from Petrobras to design and build an oil refinery called Premium.

“Honeywell UOP offered to pay millions of dollars in bribes to a high-ranking executive at Brazil’s state-owned oil company to win a lucrative contract,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Today’s resolution once again demonstrates that in our relentless fight against corruption, the Department of Justice will work together with our partners, both domestic and foreign, to hold companies accountable for their criminal conduct."

According to court documents, in order to effectuate the bribery scheme, Honeywell UOP entered into an agency agreement with a sales agent for the purpose of funding and paying the USD4 million bribe to the high-ranking Petrobras executive. In exchange for the bribe, and after obtaining business advantages, including inside information and secret assistance, from the Petrobras executive, Honeywell UOP won the contract. Honeywell UOP earned approximately USD105.5 million in profits from the corruptly obtained business.

We remind, Honeywell has signed an MoU with Egypt’s Environ Adapt for Recycling Industries with the aim of advancing plastics recycling in the country. The two organizations will explore the development of the first chemical recycling facility in Egypt that would be equipped with Honeywell’s advanced technology, capable of converting waste plastic into valuable recycled polymer feedstock (RPF).

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Multinational packaging and paper company Mondi has agreed to sell its packaging converting operations in Russia to conversion manufacturer Gotek, said Packaging-gateway.

Gotek will buy three of Mondi‘s packaging converting operations in Russia for Rb1.6bn (USD24.2m) in cash. The deal includes a corrugated packaging facility and two consumer flexibles plants, which supplies a range of packaging solutions to customers on the Russian market.

Mondi expects a loss of between EUR70m (USD74.5m) and EUR80m (USD85.1m) at current exchange rates due to the sale. The deal is expected to close in the first half of next year.

Its completion is subject to approval from Russia’s Government SubCommission for the Control of Foreign Investments and other customary antitrust approvals. Mondi said that the sale ‘is being undertaken in an evolving political and regulatory environment’ and that there can be ‘no certainty’ as to when it will be completed.

The agreement comes after Mondi decided to sell its assets in Russia as the ongoing conflict in Ukraine continues to impact their operations. The company said its sale of the packaging converting operations is not affiliated with the proposed sale of Mondi Syktyvkar, which is still pending Russian government approval.

Based in Moscow, Gotek has around 2,200 employees across its business. Mondi has become the latest packaging company to sell its operations in Russia amid the Ukraine conflict.

In September this year, Huhtamaki divested its Russian business to Espetina, a holding company owned by Alexander Govor and Iury Kushnerov.

Later that month, US-based aluminium packaging provider Ball Corporation sold its beverage packaging business in Russia to ARNEST Group.

Earlier this year, Finnish pulp and paper manufacturer Stora Enso divested its corrugated packaging plants in the country.

Mondi has around 100 production sites across more than 30 countries, employing roughly 26,000 people worldwide. The company registered total revenues of EUR7bn last year.
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German chemical and consumer goods supplier Henkel has completed an expansion of its facility in Salisbury, North Carolina, US, said Packaging-gateway.

The company added an area of 10,000ft2 to the site to produce ultra-violet (UV)-curable acrylic pressure-sensitive adhesives (PSA). Henkel announced the investment in July 2019 and construction began in August 2020.

The company’s Salisbury facility specialises in producing adhesives under the brand LOCTITE for various markets, including packaging, consumer goods and electronics. The site currently has more than 217,000ft? of production space, including its new UV acrylics operations, and employs 230 people.

The expansion will increase Henkel’s production of sustainable PSA solutions for tape, label, medical and graphics films to meet increasing demand. Henkel plans to create 20 jobs at the facility next year.

Henkel global UV Hot Melt Pressure Sensitive Adhesives project manager Bruno Motta said: “The new production area at the Salisbury facility is a major investment for Henkel and represents the first large-scale UV hotmelt production plant outside of Europe, creating a tremendous resource for our customers in North America.

“Being closer to our customers brings supply chain efficiencies and offers additional collaboration opportunities to develop customised, innovative solutions for their high performance and high-value applications.” UV-curable hot melt adhesives serve as coating solutions for various traditional pressure-sensitive applications.

Henkel’s cationic-cured UV PSAs use a novel curing mechanism that reduces energy consumption and through-cure of extremely high coat weights compared with traditional curing systems.

Last month, Henkel entered a strategic partnership with packaging certification body cyclos-HTP Institute (Chi) to simplify accessibility to sustainable packaging and consumer goods solutions for all stakeholders. The partners will work to provide access to in-house testing and certification, joint material science research and development, and consultation on sustainable packaging design.

We remind, Henkel Korea has completed work on its Songdo Plant, a production facility for electronics solutions in Korea. The project is expected to become the firm’s production hub in the Asia-Pacific region for high-impact electronics solutions.

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Showa Denko KK (SDK) has confirmed that its process to produce "low-carbon ammonia" from used plastics at its Kawasaki Plant (Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture) emits more than 80% less GHGs (including CO2) than other conventional processes to produce ammonia from fossil fuels, said the company.

SDK has confirmed this GHG reduction effect with a method of calculation whose conformity with ISO has been certified by Japan Life Cycle Assessment Facilitation Centre (LCAF), which is an independent observer.

Thus, SDK has confirmed its low-carbon ammonia's excellent environmental performance with a method certified by a third party as the only case in Japan.

We remind, Showa Denko has decided to license its technology to produce vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) to Asian Paints Limited, a leading paint and decor company in India. In addition, SDK will provide Asian Paints with catalysts to be used for the company’s VAM production.

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Switzerland-headed Amcor plc announced its Amcor Australia & New Zealand (ANZ) business has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Australian-based technology pioneers, Licella Holdings Ltd (Licella), to invest in one of Australia’s first plastic advanced recycling facilities, said the company.

As one of the first advanced recycling facilities to be built in Australia, the agreement supports Amcor and Licella’s commitment to creating a local circular economy for soft plastics in Australia and helps advance Amcor’s target to achieve 30% recycled content across its portfolio by 2030.

Located in Melbourne, stage one of the proposed facility is expected to process 20,000 tons per annum of waste plastic utilizing Licella’s pioneering Cat-HTR™ technology, relying on collections activities to divert soft plastic waste from landfill or incineration. This stage of the project has already received approval from the Victorian Environmental Protection Agency.

Amcor ANZ and Licella previously collaborated on Licella’s Feasibility Study, which validated a local supply chain for food-grade recycled soft plastic and demonstrates the critical economic and environmental benefits of the proposed facility.

Both parties will be undertaking further discussions on final terms and arrangements, which will be subject to respective internal approvals.

We remind, Amcor, a global leader in responsible packaging solutions, on 15 Dec 2022 announced the opening of its new state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in Huizhou, China. With an investment of almost USD100 mln, the 590,000-sq-ft plant is the largest flexible packaging plant by production capacity in China, further strengthening Amcor's ability to meet growing customer demand throughout Asia Pacific.

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