Obbligazioni societarie Monitor bond Chimica Europa

[Imark]

Stessa zuppa come per Moody's, qualche dettaglio ulteriore sulla situazione di Dow Chemical...

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Dow Chemical's New Senior Unsecured Notes Rated 'BBB-'; Ratings Affirmed[/FONT]

• U.S. chemical producer Dow is offering new senior unsecured debt securities to raise funds to refinance pending debt maturities.
• We are affirming our 'BBB-' corporate credit rating on the company and its affiliates and assigning 'BBB-' ratings to the proposed senior unsecured notes.
• Current ratings take into account Dow's recent earnings improvement, pending refinancing efforts, progress with the integration of Rohm and Haas, and pending asset sales that will be used to reduce the bridge financing associated with the acquisition of Rohm and Haas.
• The ratings are underpinned by Dow's strong business profile and financial policies that support its commitment to investment grade ratings.
• The negative outlook reflects the diminished, but still ongoing risk that we could lower ratings if operating results deteriorate unexpectedly or if the company fails to complete sufficient actions to substantially reduce the bridge term loan this year.

NEW YORK (Standard & Poor's) Aug. 4, 2009--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services today assigned its 'BBB-' issue rating to Dow Chemical Co.'s proposed senior unsecured notes due 2012 and 2015, to be issued from an existing shelf registration. The company will use net proceeds from the notes offering to repay existing debt and to reduce a portion of the term bridge loan related to the Rohm and Haas Co. acquisition. At the same time, we affirmed all of our ratings, including the 'BBB-' corporate credit rating, on Dow Chemical and its affiliates, Rohm and Haas and Union Carbide Corp.

Dow Chemical is a premier global chemicals producer with consolidated annual sales of more than $60 billion, extensive diversity across markets served, and an improving product mix that benefits from a greater emphasis on specialty chemicals and materials that should reduce earnings cyclicality.

"Following the close of the $19 billion acquisition of Rohm and Haas on April 1, 2009, we expect that management will remain focused on the integration, including realizing the $1.3 billion of targeted synergies from the combination, and on improving the capital structure through the monetization of less strategic businesses," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Kyle Loughlin.

The completion of the Rohm and Haas transaction stretched the financial profile at a time of considerable uncertainty in the economic and petrochemical landscape, and resulted in significant debt maturities because of the use of bridge term loan financing. Balanced against these concerns is the recent sequential improvement in business results, and a number of recent favorable developments that demonstrate Dow's commitment to maintain investment-grade ratings.

These include actions to improve the initial acquisition financing plan, the reduction of the Rohm and Haas bridge loans with the proceeds from the issuance of long-term debt and additional common equity, the reduction of its dividend, and progress against its broad-based asset divestiture plan.

These actions could result in a revision of the outlook to stable within the next few quarters.

We anticipate a gradual improvement of Dow's financial profile so that the ratio of adjusted debt to EBITDA will be restored toward the acceptable 3x-4x range by the end of 2010.

However, if operating results deteriorate unexpectedly because of an adverse turn in the global economic scenario, or if the company is unable to complete sufficient actions to substantially reduce the bridge term loan this year, we could review the ratings for a downgrade into the speculative-grade category.

 

[lorenzo63]

L'Air Liquide

Vendite non andate molto bene casua domanda debole; EBIT giu' del 6,5% .... secondo il CEO comunque l' anno si chiuderà vicino ai livelli 2008 sia per net profit che per le entrate.
Air Liquide ha incrementato in Aprile, proprio nel maggior momento di debolezza della domanda, il taglio dei costi (up to 300 mio/euro)..
Insomma come già detto una delle migliori chemicals company...


PARIS (Dow Jones)-- Industrial gases manufacturer L'Air Liquide SA (AI.FR) Thursday beat forecasts with a 0.8% drop in net profit for the first half on weaker demand and maintained its expectations for full-year revenue and net profit.

Air Liquide, the world's biggest supplier of industrial gases by revenue, said net profit in the six months to June 30 fell to EUR596 million from EUR601 million a year earlier, above expectations of EUR535.2 million forecast by a Dow Jones Newswires' survey of analysts.

Revenue for the period dropped 6.8% to EUR5.94 billion from EUR6.37 billion a year earlier, below analyst forecasts of EUR6.09 billion.

Earnings before interest and tax, or EBIT, fell 6.5% to EUR889 million compared to EUR950 million a year earlier and expectations of EUR879.8 million.

The first half was impacted by weak demand, reaching bottom in April before picking up, as the company said it saw some signs of recovery over the last two months of the period.

"As concerns the levels of activity, the positive signs were more pronounced at the end of the half-year," Air Liquide's Chairman and Chief Executive Benoit Potier said in a statement. "But some segments remain affected by weak customer demand."

The group maintained its current guidance, set in April, and still sees for the full year its revenue and net profit "close to the 2008 levels," Potier also said.

Air Liquide will keep on investing in its five growth driver segments, which are energy, emerging markets, health, high tech and environment, Potier said.

But nothing was said about further potential cost cuts.

Air Liquide's first-half earnings coming in better than expected was "reassuring," a Paris-based trader said, noting Air Liquide fared "far better" than other European peers such as Germany's BASF (BAS.XE) over the period, a performance that should clearly boost the stock at the open.

Air Liquide results are "rather positive," an analyst at Cheuvreux also said, noting that not only is the net profit slightly down compared to a year earlier, but it is also above expectations. Cheuvreux rates Air Liquide at underperform.

In April, Air Liquide increased its cost-cutting goal for 2009 to EUR300 million from a previous target of more than EUR250 million.

At the end of June, Air Liquide had cut costs worth EUR153 million of its EUR300 million objective, the company said. It cut EUR230 million of costs in 2008.

The group also took steps such as the suspension of salary increases and new hirings as well as the realignment of fixed costs in some units "in order to adapt to the current level of demand," it said.

Since the start of the year, the total number of employees has fallen, excluding acquisitions, due to the cost-cutting measures and through attrition, the group also noted, without disclosing figures.

Air Liquide's stock dropped nearly 16% in the past year on economic worries, though the share price recently picked up on the back of an improving macro-economic environment and as Air Liquide has kept up its expansion in emerging markets. Shares closed Wednesday at EUR72.08.

 

[Imark]

Aggiungo anche il commento di Fitch su Dow Chemical in quanto questa agenzia mi sembra molto precisa nel fare i conti sul livello del leverage dell'emittente e sul tipo di deleverage che potrebbe ottenersi entro fine 2009.

Fitch Rates Dow Chemical's $2.75B Sr. Notes Issuances 'BBB'; Outlook Negative

04 Aug 2009 6:14 PM (EDT)

Fitch Ratings-Chicago-04 August 2009: Fitch Ratings has assigned a 'BBB' rating to Dow Chemical Company's (DOW) issuances of $1.25 billion 4.85% three-year senior unsecured notes due 2012, its $1.25 billion 5.9% five-and-a-half-year senior unsecured notes due 2015, and its $250 million two-year senior unsecured floating rate notes due 2011.

Proceeds will be used to further reduce outstandings under the term loan to finance the Rohm and Haas (ROH) acquisition and to refinance other upcoming debt maturities. Fitch currently rates DOW as follows:
--Long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) 'BBB';
--Senior unsecured revolving credit facility 'BBB';
--Senior unsecured debt 'BBB';
--Short-term IDR and commercial paper (CP) rating 'F3'.
The Rating Outlook is Negative.

The ratings reflect the size, scale and leading market positions that the company has in many segments of the chemicals industry and the potential for the company to generate significant free cash flow in better economic conditions.

The ratings are also based on recent actions DOW took to strengthen its balance sheet, including debt issuances with $6 billion gross proceeds and equity issuances with $2.25 billion gross proceeds in May.

Proceeds were primarily used to eliminate all of the Preferred Stock, series B, from its capital structure and to reduce borrowings under the term loan to finance the ROH acquisition to $4.1 billion from the initial drawdown of $9.2 billion. Liquidity is provided by $2.6 billion cash on hand and $2.1 billion available under a $3 billion senior unsecured revolving credit facility, which will expire in April 2011.

The Negative Outlook reflects the increased leverage of the company post closing of the Rohm and Haas acquisition.

As of June 30, 2009 DOW had gross balance sheet debt of $23.8 billion, of which $1.8 billion was short-term.

Based on last-twelve months pro forma operating EBITDA of approximately $5.1 billion, gross debt / EBITDA leverage stood at 4.65 times (x). Net debt / EBITDA was 4.1x.

DOW significantly relies on asset sales to reduce its leverage.

So far, the company closed the divestiture of the Calcium Chloride business and agreed to sell three businesses (Morton Salt, its TRN refinery stake and its stake in the OPTIMAL joint venture) with combined proceeds of approximately $3.3 billion.

DOW has flagged several other assets as potential divestitures that could be monetized to further reduce its leverage. These assets include DOW AgroScience, its olefins and derivatives envelope (previously K-DOW, a new and separate operating unit, named STYRON Corporation, containing DOW's styrenics and aromatics businesses, and the legacy Rohm and Haas Powder Coatings business.

The Outlook considers the execution risks associated with the company's delevering strategy. Additionally, the Outlook reflects the fact that the company's profitability continues to be under pressure from the consequences of the economic downturn.

Even under the assumption of a hypothetical return to more normalized volumes and margins in 2009, gross debt to EBITDA would be over 3x without reducing debt with proceeds from asset sales, which exceeds Fitch's expectations of a mid-cycle leverage for the current rating.

DOW is the largest chemical company in North America, with leading market share in a number of specialty and commodity chemical segments. Chemical operations are highly integrated, resulting in cost advantages across the business cycle.

Under the new operating structure, business segments are Advanced Materials consisting of Electronic & Specialty Materials and Coatings & Infrastructure, Health & Agricultural Sciences, Performance Products & Systems and Basics consisting of Basic Plastics, Basic Chemicals and Hydrocarbons & Energy.

Excluding certain divestitures and intercompany transactions, these businesses had pro forma sales of approximately $65 billion and $21 billion in fiscal year 2008 and the six months period ending June 30, 2009, respectively.

 

[lorenzo63]

Solvay

Solvay has signed an agreement with the holding company Sodium Group Investments (Moscow) to acquire its majority stake in OAO Bereznikovski Sodovy Zavod, a producer of soda ash based at Berezniki, Russia. The holding company owns approximately 90% in the company being acquired and 100% in ZAO Berkhimprom, which jointly owns and operates the soda ash complex. The two enterprises are currently merging. The agreed enterprise value for the stake amounts to about €160 million ($229.3 million), Solvay says. After the deal is finalized in early 2010, Solvay will gain immediate control of the soda ash operation and Sodium Group will retain a minority share over the coming three years. Solvay will pay for the acquisition over this period.

The Berezniki soda ash plant, with capacity for 500,000 m.t./year, is one of the three major soda ash producers in Russia. It is situated close to a site where Solvay in 1883 built a soda ash plant and owned it for several decades. The plant, which is being acquired was built in in the 1970s and it is based on the Solvay process. It currently makes light soda ash but dense soda ash will be available by the end of this year when the construction of a densification unit is finalized. The plant employs approximately 2,200 people. Solvay will continue modernizing the plant and is considering expansion of the facility.

"Solvay is very pleased with this opportunity to become a soda ash producer in Russia, at the heart of a market with exciting growth prospects," says Christine Tahon, managing director/soda ash and related products. Solvay will continue to market product from the plant in Russia and the CIS, where the market is growing at 8%/year, serving industries such as glass, as well as metal and mining.

Berezniki is one of three major soda ash producers in Russia. The largest maker is based at Sterlitamak and is three times larger than Berezniki. The Rusal Group owns a plant at Achinsk, which is roughly equivalent to that being acquired by Solvay.

Solvay is the global leader in soda ash manufacture. It has 4.98 million m.t./year capacity in Europe and 2.03 million m.t./year in the U.S. In addition, it owns a plant at Alexandria, Egypt, which it recently acquired. Capacity of the Egyptian plant is 130,000 m.t./year.

 

[lorenzo63]

BASF to Close Permanently Nylon-6 Plant in Germany

Polimero tecnico deputato a diversi usi ... una sua diminuizione nell' uso indica che 1)si procede ad una sua concentrazione nella produzione europea, quindi essenzialmente è risparmio sui costi ma inoltre prospetticamente si prevede ad una certa diminuizione di diverse produzioni in EU...

BASF says it will restructure its nylon-6 production activities in Europe, which will involve the permanent closure of a plant at Rudolstadt in the German state of Thuringia at the end of 2010. BASF will concentrate production of nylon-6 at its integrated Verbund sites at Antwerp and Ludwigshafen.

The restructuring will also involve some reduction in production capacity of nylon-6 at Ludwigshafen, where the company will focus on higher margin products. The moves will result in the loss of 58 positions at Rudolstadt and 19 at Ludwigshafen. "We will work closely with the employee representatives to find socially responsible solutions for the employees," says Manfred Heckmann, managing director of BASF Performance Polymers. BASF will continue to operate a compounding plant for the production of engineering plastics at Rudolstadt. Employees affected by the Ludwigshafen cuts will be offered other positions at that site.

The closure of Rudolstadt and the restructuring of the nylon-6 business at Ludwigshafen will result in the reduction of BASF's worldwide polymerization capacity by 40,000 m.t./year to 680,000 m.t./year of nylon-6 and nylon-6,6 combined, corresponding to a reduction of about 6%. The company does not split capacity of the two products.

BASF inherited the Rudolstadt site as part of its 2003 swap deal with Honeywell under which Honeywell acquired BASF's fibers operations and BASF' took over Honeywell's engineering plastics business.

"By focusing on the large, backward-integrated Verbund sites, we are improving our cost basis and safeguarding our competiveness in the European polyamide 6 market," says Harald Lauke, head of BASF's performance polymers division

 

[bulogna]

Chiedevo una cortesia a chi riesce a vedere un qualche terminale riguardo a questa dow chemical che sembra un po' bistrattata sul prezzo nominale di acquisto: us260543be23 taglio minimo e se c'è lettera.
Grazie

 

[obsoleto]

Chiedevo una cortesia a chi riesce a vedere un qualche terminale riguardo a questa dow chemical che sembra un po' bistrattata sul prezzo nominale di acquisto: us260543be23 taglio minimo e se c'è lettera.
Grazie

taglio minimo 1000 USD ma non c'è lettera.

 

[bulogna]

taglio minimo 1000 USD ma non c'è lettera.

grazie

 

[lorenzo63]

Inerente la piu volte citata sovraproduzione di poliolefine, divenute, oramai da tempo, una commodity ...

15 settembre
LyondellBasell Industries ha annunciato oggi che entro la fine dell'anno chiuderà l'impianto per polietilene a bassa densità (LDPE) di Carrington, nel Regno Unito, giudicato non più conveniente sotto il profilo economico sia alla luce dell'attuale scenario di mercato che in prospettiva. La chiusura non riguarderà invece l'impianto polipropilene attivo nello stesso sito.

La produzione europea di LDPE sarà concentrata in futuro a Wesseling, in Germania, e Berre, in Francia. "Il mercato richiede economie di scala e bassi costi di conversione", ha spiegato Tassilo Bader, Senior Vice President per le attività Olefins and Polyethylene. L'impianto LDPE britannico, con la sua capacità di 185.000 t/a, è il più piccolo tra quelli posseduti dal gruppo chimico olandese, contro le oltre 300.000 t/a di quello francese.

 

[lorenzo63]

15 settembre 2009 @ 09:15:38 CEST
Tensioni tra Cina e Stati Uniti per i dazi sui pneumatici introdotti dall'amministrazione Obama.

....A margine del G8 o G?? ...Con forza venne espresso il concetto di nn abbandonarsi al protezionismo....Ma evidentemente riguardava forse solo noi europei
Piu' seriamente: potrebbe essere il segno che forse qualcosa stà cambiando..Indietro nn si torna, chiaro, ma è evidente che uno dei problemi piu' grossi che abbiamo è la regolamentazione delle produzioni: è impensabile che, tutti producono, e di converso nessuno (o pochi) acquistano .. è una iperbole chiaro, ma và da se' che deve essere riequilibrato il tutto.


Gli Stati Uniti hanno deciso di applicare tra 15 giorni e per i prossimi tre anni dazi sull'importazione di pneumatici per auto e veicoli commerciali dalla Cina, pari al 35% del prezzo nel primo anno, del 30% nel secondo anno e del 25% nel terzo, che si aggiungono al 3,4-4% già in vigore.

L'inasprimento dei dazi doganali è stata richiesta con forza dalle organizzazioni sindacali del settore, che lamentano una perdita di oltre 5mila posti di lavoro negli ultimi quattro anni a causa delle massicce importazioni di pneumatici provenienti dal paesi asiatico. Nel 2008, gli USA hanno importato 46 milioni di pneumatici dalla Cina, pari a circa il 9% della produzione del colosso asiatico.

La decisione, come prevedibile, non è stata accolta favorevolmente dal Governo cinese, che ha presentato una denuncia al WTO, l'Organizzazione Mondiale del Commercio, chiedendo la revoca delle tariffe (che riguardano anche i tubi di acciaio), giudicate una grave forma di protezionismo. Non si escludono ritorsioni commerciali, che potrebbero ulteriormente inasprire i rapporti commerciali tra i due paesi, a pochi giorni dall'avvio del G20, in programma a Pittsburgh il 24 e 25 settembre.

I due paesi hanno 60 giorni per mettersi d'accordo. In caso contrario interverrà una commissione del WTO