INEOS NOVA and SEEA Polymers announce plans for new EPS plant
INEOS NOVA and SEEA
Polymers today announced they have signed a letter of intent to
form a 50/50 joint venture to build and operate a new expandable
polystyrene (EPS) plant in Romania. The proposed facility will have
production capacity of 100 KT per year and is expected to start
operations by late 2009.
SEEA Polymers is an entrepreneurial plastics manufacturing and
processing company created by a group of Romanian investors led
by Mr Florin Andrei. Mr Andrei has extensive experience in the
domestic and regional petrochemical market in his previous
position as Chief Executive Officer of Rompetrol Petrochemicals.
Before joining Rompetrol he held a number of positions over 10
years at Dow Corning and The Dow Chemical Company.
Ineos Nova to shut Dutch
PS plant
Ineos Nova is to close its 90,000 tonnes polystyrene plant at Breda
in the Netherlands by the end of December. The closure will not
affect expandable and high performance polystyrene production at
the site. There will be no change to EPS production, while in HPS
the company plans "some reorganisation of operations and the
product portfolio".
Martin Pugh, managing director of Ineos Nova, said the closure
was in order to focus production on other plants to improve the
economics of the business. "We have significant overcapacity
in our European PS business. This, combined with significant
feedstock volatility and weak demand, has depressed margins,
making our PS business unprofitable. In making this change, we
intend to increase the efficiency of our remaining plants and
reduce costs, thereby improving the long-term sustainability of
our PS business."
Breda was one of the sites Nova bought from
Shell in 1999.
In 2007 Nova Innovene raised EPS capacity there as part of a Europe-wide
increase in EPS production to meet demand for building
insulation.
Nova buys out Shell polystyrene
Nova Chemicals Corporation, the Canadian company which last year bought the bulk of the Huntsman polystyrene business, is to buy Shell's European PS and EPS businesses for $185 million plus working capital, estimated at $30 million.
The purchase adds the 120,000 tonnes of PS at Breda in the Netherlands and 225,000 tonnes of EPS at Carrington (England), Berre (France) and Breda to Nova's existing European capacity of 180,000 tonnes of PS at Carrington and 90,000 tonnes of EPS at Ribécourt in France.
In addition Nova is buying the R & D facilities at Breda and at Louvain-la-Neuve in Belgium, Shell's polystyrene technology and Shell's European polystyrene sales and marketing operations. Further to this deal, Nova has agreed to buy Shell's 3,000 tonne polystyrene plant and moulding facilities near Santiago in Chile. The price for this is not disclosed.
The Shell takeover is expected to be complete by the first quarter of next year, and rationalisation from cost savings and an improved product mix are expected to yield Nova more than $30 million a year pre-tax by the end of 2002.
This transaction will make Nova the second largest producer of PS and EPS in Europe. The company is already the largest EPS/PS producer in North America and the third largest in the world.
Nova to boost EPS output
Nova Innovene is aiming for increased EPS production in Europe through greater production efficiencies. It is planning to raise capacity across its three sites - Marl in Germany, Breda in the Netherlands and Ribécourt in France - from 350,000 to 410,000 tonnes during the next 12 months. The company says there is growing demand for EPS, primarily as building insulation.
2010/11/12 ICIS news NOVA to sell its share of styrenics JV to INEOS
NOVA Chemicals plans to sell its share of joint venture INEOS NOVA to INEOS in the first quarter of 2011, the Canadian producer said on Friday.
“On October 31, 2010, we and INEOS entered into an agreement providing for the acquisition by INEOS of 100% of our equity interest in the INEOS NOVA joint venture,” NOVA said in its third-quarter earnings announcement.
“We expect the transaction to close in the first quarter of 2011, subject to receipt of regulatory approvals, required consents and other customary closing conditions.”
NOVA did not disclose a sales price for its part of the styrene and styrene polymers producer.
“It’s premature to say how much cash we’ll receive, we still have to work through valuation and other closing related issues,” said NOVA CEO Randy Woelfel during the company’s earnings conference call.
“Through aggressive business restructuring the JV has made fundamental progress and is now a positive earnings contributor,” he continued. “However, this JV is not a strategic priority for us. We are now in a better position to concentrate and focus on better opportunities for us.”
Woelfel added: “We do not expect to record a material gain or loss relating to the transaction, [it] will result in a modest amount of cash, and will relieve us of certain liabilities.”
The joint venture was created in 2005 and was expanded in 2007 to include North American polystyrene (PS), performance products and styrene monomer.
INEOS NOVA produced $2.1bn in revenue in 2009 and has 1,170 employees, according to its website. It has 11 plants in six countries.