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Everchem Updates
VOLUME XXI
September 14, 2023
Everchem’s exclusive Closers Only Club is reserved for only the highest caliber brass-baller salesmen in the chemical industry. Watch the hype video and be introduced to the top of the league: — read more
September 6, 2021
Azelis to Raise $1 Billion in Biggest Belgian IPO Since 2007
Kat Van HoofMon, September 6, 2021, 5:50 AM·2 min read
(Bloomberg) — Specialty-chemical and food-ingredient distributor Azelis SA plans to raise 880 million euros ($1.04 billion) in an initial public offering on Euronext Brussels in what could be the biggest stock-market listing in Belgium in 14 years.
Existing shareholders will also sell stock in the deal, the company said in a statement Monday. The IPO could value Azelis at about 5 billion euros ($6 billion), Bloomberg News reported in June.
Proceeds from the offering will be used to ease the company’s debt burden while providing firepower for acquisitions.
“Azelis has been and will continue to be a consolidator among specialty-chemicals and food-ingredient suppliers,” Chief Executive Officer Hans Joachim Mueller said in a phone interview.
The offering is set to be the biggest initial share sale in Brussels since metals supplier Nyrstar NV’s listing in 2007, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Azelis is part of a wave of companies expected to go public this fall in Europe. Cybersecurity provider Exclusive Networks said Friday it will list in Paris, while French private equity firm Antin Infrastructure Partners SA also said it’s working on an IPO. Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s Petershill unit announced Monday it plans to list a new investment vehicle in London.
“Given the level of maturity of the company, it feels right to list now,” Muller said, noting that the business grew during the pandemic. Azelis’s adjusted earnings rose by 16% in 2020 from the year before, according to the statement.
Based in Antwerp, Belgium, Azelis distributes specialty chemicals used in everything from animal nutrition to industrial cleaning. The company has about 2,800 employees in 56 countries, according to the statement.
Swedish buyout firm EQT AB acquired Azelis in 2018 from Apax Partners for an undisclosed amount. Canada’s PSP Investments was a co-investor in the deal.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are joint global coordinators, with bookrunners Barclays Plc, BNP Paribas SA, HSBC Holdings Plc and ING Bank NV on the IPO. Cooperatieve Rabobank and Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg are co-lead managers, while Lazard Ltd. is Azelis’s financial adviser.
(Adds CEO comments in fourth paragraph.)
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chemicals-firm-azelis-seeks-raise-072504580.html
September 6, 2021
Ida Disrupts Chlorine Production, Raising Risk of Higher Prices
By Kevin Crowley August 30, 2021, 5:29 PM EDT Updated on August 30, 2021, 6:06 PM EDT
- Westlake, Formosa shut down facilities ahead of storm
- Chlorine was already in short supply after February’s freeze
Hurricane Ida’s landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast caused production outages in the heart of the country’s chlorine manufacturing industry.
Chlorine was already in short supply after a deep freeze in February knocked facilities offline for weeks. Now, widespread power outages around Baton Rouge, Louisiana may increase prices further, according to Robert Stier, a senior petrochemicals analyst at S&P Global Platts.
“Chlorine is going to get really tight” because of the industry’s concentration in the Louisiana area, he said.
READ: Ida’s Aftermath Raises Environmental Fears in ‘Cancer Alley’ (1)
Westlake Chemical Corp. shut two Louisiana facilities that make chlorine over the weekend. An assessment of the storm’s impact may take several days, the company said. Formosa Plastics also closed a plant in Baton Rouge, according to ICIS, a data provider.
Chlorine manufacturers also tend to make PVC, a key building material used in pipes, siding and other construction materials. Gulf Coast contracts for PVC were already trading at record highs before the storm, according to ICIS.
September 6, 2021
Ida Disrupts Chlorine Production, Raising Risk of Higher Prices
By Kevin Crowley August 30, 2021, 5:29 PM EDT Updated on August 30, 2021, 6:06 PM EDT
- Westlake, Formosa shut down facilities ahead of storm
- Chlorine was already in short supply after February’s freeze
Hurricane Ida’s landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast caused production outages in the heart of the country’s chlorine manufacturing industry.
Chlorine was already in short supply after a deep freeze in February knocked facilities offline for weeks. Now, widespread power outages around Baton Rouge, Louisiana may increase prices further, according to Robert Stier, a senior petrochemicals analyst at S&P Global Platts.
“Chlorine is going to get really tight” because of the industry’s concentration in the Louisiana area, he said.
READ: Ida’s Aftermath Raises Environmental Fears in ‘Cancer Alley’ (1)
Westlake Chemical Corp. shut two Louisiana facilities that make chlorine over the weekend. An assessment of the storm’s impact may take several days, the company said. Formosa Plastics also closed a plant in Baton Rouge, according to ICIS, a data provider.
Chlorine manufacturers also tend to make PVC, a key building material used in pipes, siding and other construction materials. Gulf Coast contracts for PVC were already trading at record highs before the storm, according to ICIS.
September 6, 2021
BASF to increase prices for polyurethane systems products in North America
WYANDOTTE, MI, September 3, 2021 – BASF will increase prices for polyurethane systems products in North America by $0.11/lb for orders shipping on or after October 1, 2021, or as contracts allow.
September 6, 2021
BASF to increase prices for polyurethane systems products in North America
WYANDOTTE, MI, September 3, 2021 – BASF will increase prices for polyurethane systems products in North America by $0.11/lb for orders shipping on or after October 1, 2021, or as contracts allow.
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