Obbligazioni societarie Monitor bond Chimica Europa

[lorenzo63]

AkzoNobel to Acquire Dow's Powder Coatings Business

AkzoNobel says it has agreed to acquire Dow Chemical's powder coatings business for an undisclosed price. Dow purchased the business as part of its acquisition of Rohm and Haas and has said that powder coatings is not a core business for Dow.

The acquisition, expected to close in the second quarter of 2010 subject to approvals by antitrust authorities, will reinforce AkzoNobel's position as the global leading producer of powder coatings. Dow's powder coatings operations with five plants based in the U.S., Europe and China, has sales of some $250 million/year, sources say. It employs 700 people. AkzoNobel's powder coatings business has sales of €600 million-€700 million ($885.3 million-$1 billion)/year.

The acquisition will bring key technological know-how and significant synergy potential to AkzoNobel's powder coatings business, and will enhance the company's position in the U.S., AkzoNobel says. "This is a strategic acquisition, which will enable us to further penetrate key industrial coatings segments," says Leif Darner, AkzoNobel's board member/performance coatings. AkzoNobel's existing powder coatings business focuses on metal applications, including refrigeration and computer casings. The acquired business will add powder coatings for the MDF and thermoplastic segments, the company says.

Akzo Nobel, following approval of the deal, will restructure the business to focus on specific technologies. "Our intention is to move towards a more dedicated approach, whereby sites concentrate on specific technologies," says Rob Molenaar, managing director AkzoNobel/powder coatings. "These planned manufacturing enhancements and synergies will deliver improved operational efficiency and ultimately enable us to better serve our customers worldwide," he says. Powder coatings offer an "attractive" alternative to liquid coatings because they contain no solvents and have application efficiency levels as high as 99%, the company says.

AkzoNobel is the global leading producer of coatings, a position it enhanced with the "transformational" acquisition of ICI in 2008. Nevertheless, it still only accounts for 15% of the global coatings market and says it is on the look out for bolt-on acquisitions. Dow's powder coatings business is a good example of such a transaction, the company adds.

 

[lorenzo63]

Lanxess's Third-Quarter Results Rise Sequentially; Expands Production in China

Lanxess reported third quarter net income down 59%, to €23 million ($34 million), on sales down 24%, to €1.37 billion. Ebitda before special items fell 26%, to €143 million.
Lanxess's results rose sequentially, however, because of an "improved macroeconomic environment worldwide, driven by China," and cost savings programs, the company says. Ebitda before special items rose 28% from the second quarter, on sales up 11%. A "slight" restocking in the third quarter occurred because customers in the performance polymers segment brought forward their purchases ahead of announced price increases for the fourth quarter, Lanxess says. (E' accaduto che per alcuni tecnopolimeri a fronte della diminuizione di prezzo deimonomeri di pertenza il prodotto finale è rincarato)
Performance polymers sales rose 17% sequentially, to €656 million because of a pick up in demand for winter tires and pre-buying by customers. Ebitda before special items increased 46%, €76 million because of a strong performance from the butyl rubber business and cost savings. Advanced intermediates earnings before special items rose 5%, to €40 million, and sales remained unchanged at €284 million. Performance chemicals earnings before special items jumped 52%, to €67 million, on sales up 10%, to €425 million because of higher volumes and cost savings from the inorganic pigments, leather, and RheinChemie businesses, Lanxess says.
Meanwhile, Lanxess plans to expand production in China. Lanxess says it has broken ground for a new black iron oxide pigment plant at its Jinshan, China site. The plant will produce 10,000 m.t./year, and is scheduled to come onstream in fourth-quarter 2010. In addition, Lanxess says it has started a technical improvement project for its existing yellow iron oxide pigment production at Jinshan, which will be complete in 2011. The project will reduce emissions by at least 15%, the company says. Lanxess says it will inaugurate a leather chemicals plant at Wuxi, China this month.
Separately, Lanxess says it will transfer its colorants production from Lerma, Mexico, to Leverkusen by the end of March 2010. Lanxess says 120 jobs will be eliminated

 

[lorenzo63]

E' di origine USA ed è aggiornato 2 nov 09

I dati ovviamente sono USA..

 

[lorenzo63]

Un occhio alle stock chemical USA

...Un po' ot ma da' un' idea: (sono presenti tante Europee..)

Aggiornato al 13/11/2009

Vedi l'allegato chemical stock USA.xls

 

[lorenzo63]

Ineos investe in un'impianto in UK per la produzione da rifiuti dell' etanolo

Etanolo= alcool etilico

Ineos Bio, an Ineos subsidiary, has launched a feasibility study for a second-generation bioethanol project at Seal Sands, U.K. The plant would convert locally generated biodegradable household and commercial waste into ethanol, and would be based on technology unveiled by Ineos Bio last year. The study is for initial construction of a bioethanol plant that could be expanded subsequently into a world-scale, integrated biorefinery--incorporating the bioethanol unit and a bioenergy plant--by 2015, Ineos Bio says.
The £3.5-million study will benefit from a £2.2-million grant from regional development agency One North East (Newcastle Upon Tyne, U.K.) and the U.K. government Department for Energy and Climate Change. Ineos Bio says it will make a decision in 2010 on whether to go ahead with the project, following completion of the study. The bioethanol plant is expected to have a capacity of about 24,000 m.t./year.

 

[lorenzo63]

Ethylene prices this week maintained at USD 900-920 as same as the last week. But trends are taking an upward turn with short supply for the product in the South East Asia region. The South east asia have their major supplies from Middle East region and due to one of the plant failures in Iran, it is expected that a shortage situation is arriving. As per one of the traders in the region ethylene is being offered from Chinese suppliers at a higher rate in the South East asian region.

Questa settimana sono entrate buone quantità di ordini ...anche se è evidente che la tempesta non è ancora finita

Baltic Dry Index Continues to Rally

Chinese Demand Driving Recovery

LONDON - The Baltic Exchange’s Dry Index (BDI), which charts shipping rates for various dry and bulk commodities, jumped 5.5 per cent on Thursday to 3,954 points as the strong demand for iron ore and coal from China continues.

The index has been slowly recovering since it crashed to its all time low of 663 in December 2008 and has surged 32.4 per cent over the past two weeks alone.

There is also reportedly a greater interest for charters extending for several months rather than just for single voyages, as has been the case generally for this year. This suggests that shippers are confident that demand will remain stable over the fourth quarter of this year.

Reports also suggest that the new strength of rates in the Pacific is beginning to affect the Atlantic route rates as well, welcome news to shipping lines that have languished in the doldrums this year

 

[lorenzo63]

Bayer MaterialScience Boosts Polyisocyanates in China

COntinua lo spostamento di plant ed impianti produttivi in Rpc; Quaesto in specifico andrà a soddisfare produttori di vernici (vari usi: sopratutto auto ..) + tecnopolimeri ...



Bayer MaterialScience says it has completed an expansion of polyisocyanates capacity at Caojing, China, near Shanghai, to 27,000 m.t./year to meet growing demand for aliphatic coatings in the Asian automotive, general industrial, and plastics market. The company has been producing the polyisocyanates, trade named Desmodur N, at Caojing since 2003, with an initial capacity of 11,500 m.t./year. Desmodur N is a solvent-free aliphatic polyisocyanate resin based on hexamethylene diisocyanate.

 

[lorenzo63]

Aggiornamento 20/11/2009

Settore che presenta un recupero abbastanza diffuso: su 36 titoli monitorati 24 in variazione positiva e 12 con variazione negativa.

A seguire le immagini:

Il file, per chi volesse disporne:

Vedi l'allegato Chemical Bonds 3.xls

 

[Imark]

Resta negativo l'outlook compartimentale di Moody's sulla chimica europea e USA... debolezza della domanda, sovracapacità produttiva e preoccupazioni su di una crescita dei prezzi delle materie prime che andrebbe ad incidere sui margini, non potendo essere scaricata sui clienti in mancanza di tendenza alla crescita dei fatturati, sono i principali concerns dell'agenzia.

Moody's: Chemical industry outlook negative as demand remains weak

New York, November 24, 2009 -- The outlook for the chemical industry globally continues to be negative, says Moody's Investors Service in a six-month update on the industry. The negative outlook largely reflects Moody's expectations for limited volume growth, excess industry capacity and concern that raw material prices may increase prior to meaningful increases in demand, threatening performance.

"Although there has been a rebound in the last two quarters, producers continue to see limited future chemical demand, and we expect pressure on fourth-quarter 2009 results as downstream industries minimize their inventories towards year-end," said James Wilkins, Moody's Vice President and Senior Analyst. "This will mute the improvement from the distressed demand levels of 2008."

Commodity prices, which were low in late 2008 to the benefit of the chemical companies, have partially rebounded. Moody's says strong demand growth in Asia could put more pressure on global commodity prices before demand in the U.S. and Europe fully recovers, keeping margins tight in 2010.

Low capacity utilization rates and weak selling prices could also squeeze producers' margins and cash flows over the near term, says Moody's.

Rebounding some, chemical production should track forecasted growth in industrial production in Europe and the U.S. in 2010.

Industrial production, a key to chemical demand, must recover for the chemical industry to recover, says Moody's.

"Any unanticipated event that stalls the recovery in industrial production will likely have a significant impact on most chemical companies," Wilkins said. "Also, the weak demand and modest recovery will not give chemical companies much opportunity to pass through raw-material cost increases."

Industry outlooks express Moody's expectations for the fundamental credit conditions in an industry over the next 12 to 18 months.

The six-month update "Chemical Demand Still Weak in the Americas and Europe" is available on Moodys.com

 

[lorenzo63]

Posso solo confermare riga per riga.

Gli ordini in generale ci sono, e non solo per noi ma n generale.. ma i margini sono risicati; ed ogni minimo errore rischia di compromettere le performance.