9 Dec 2003
By Patrick Raleigh ERJ On-line news editor
Milan-Polimeri Europa SpA has sold its 50-kilotonnes-per-annum (ktpa) styrenic block copolymer plant in Baytown, Texas, to Lee Chang Yung Chemical Industry Corp. of Taiwan, for $ 41 million.
The sale, announced 5 Dec, is the first part of plan by parent group ENI SpA to sell off six of Polimeri's seven elastomer plants, while investing in its remaining facility in Ravenna, Italy.
US subsidiary Polimeri Europa Americas makes styrene-butadiene and styrene-isoprene block copolymers at the Baytown plant. These products are typically used in modified bitumens for roofing, road paving, adhesives and shoe soles.
“It is a fair mutual agreement achieved with one of the main and qualified international operator and in line with the Eni's strategy in the petrochemical sector†said the Eni's CEO Vittorio Mincato, in a press statement.
With 2002 sales of Euro 263 million, Lee Chang Yung Chemical is the world's second largest thermoplastic rubber producer, with an installed capacity of 140 ktpa, according to ENI.
Lee Chang Yung Chemical also produces formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, ethilacetate, methanol, acetone, dimethylformaldehyde and metilisobutilchetone. The firm has four production plants in Taiwan, two in China and one in Qatar.
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