The Urethane Blog
May 19, 2021
Greiner Plans Recticel Bid Valuing Firm at $915 Million
By Aaron Kirchfeld May 14, 2021, 8:37 AM EDT Corrected May 14, 2021, 3:59 PM EDT
Greiner AG, an Austrian plastics maker, is preparing a takeover offer for Recticel SA valuing the Belgian foam company at about 754 million euros ($915 million), a person with knowledge of the matter said.
Greiner is buying Cie. du Bois Sauvage SA’s 27% stake in the company for 13.50 euros per share and plans to offer the same price to other investors, according to the person, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The Austrian firm is seeking a majority stake in Recticel and aims to keep its listing on the Euronext Brussels exchange, the person said.
It’s seeking to gain acceptances from shareholders holding at least 50% of the company’s voting rights plus one share, according to the person.
Recticel shares have risen 41% in Brussels trading this year, giving the company a market value of 844 million euros. The planned offer represents a 10.7% discount to Recticel’s closing price of 15.12 euros on Thursday, when the shares rallied 14%.
Cie. du Bois Sauvage and Recticel were both halted from trading on Friday, pending statements. Representatives for Greiner, Cie. du Bois Sauvage and Recticel didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Recticel makes foams for everything from construction to bedding and automotive. The company has received takeover interest before. In 2019, the Belgian company rejected an offer from Irish insulation maker Kingspan Group Plc for just two of its units. At the time, it signaled it would be open to considering an offer for the whole company.
Greiner and Recticel have been working together for decades. They formed a joint venture in 1992 called Eurofoam, which makes flexible foams. The Austrian company agreed to buy out the venture last year.
Recticel agreed in March to acquire the thermal PIR insulation board business of Poland’s Gor-Stal Sp. z o.o for 30 million euros including debt. Later that month, it completed its purchase of Conzzeta AG’s FoamPartner unit for an enterprise value of 270 million Swiss francs ($300 million).
May 19, 2021
Greiner Plans Recticel Bid Valuing Firm at $915 Million
By Aaron Kirchfeld May 14, 2021, 8:37 AM EDT Corrected May 14, 2021, 3:59 PM EDT
Greiner AG, an Austrian plastics maker, is preparing a takeover offer for Recticel SA valuing the Belgian foam company at about 754 million euros ($915 million), a person with knowledge of the matter said.
Greiner is buying Cie. du Bois Sauvage SA’s 27% stake in the company for 13.50 euros per share and plans to offer the same price to other investors, according to the person, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The Austrian firm is seeking a majority stake in Recticel and aims to keep its listing on the Euronext Brussels exchange, the person said.
It’s seeking to gain acceptances from shareholders holding at least 50% of the company’s voting rights plus one share, according to the person.
Recticel shares have risen 41% in Brussels trading this year, giving the company a market value of 844 million euros. The planned offer represents a 10.7% discount to Recticel’s closing price of 15.12 euros on Thursday, when the shares rallied 14%.
Cie. du Bois Sauvage and Recticel were both halted from trading on Friday, pending statements. Representatives for Greiner, Cie. du Bois Sauvage and Recticel didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Recticel makes foams for everything from construction to bedding and automotive. The company has received takeover interest before. In 2019, the Belgian company rejected an offer from Irish insulation maker Kingspan Group Plc for just two of its units. At the time, it signaled it would be open to considering an offer for the whole company.
Greiner and Recticel have been working together for decades. They formed a joint venture in 1992 called Eurofoam, which makes flexible foams. The Austrian company agreed to buy out the venture last year.
Recticel agreed in March to acquire the thermal PIR insulation board business of Poland’s Gor-Stal Sp. z o.o for 30 million euros including debt. Later that month, it completed its purchase of Conzzeta AG’s FoamPartner unit for an enterprise value of 270 million Swiss francs ($300 million).
May 17, 2021
Port Of LA Volumes Are “Off The Charts”
by Tyler DurdenMonday, May 17, 2021 – 06:10 PM
By Kim Link-Wills of Freight Waves,
The Port of Los Angeles continued its record-setting streak, posting the busiest April in its 114-year history.
“It’s truly been an unprecedented run here in LA,” Executive Director Gene Seroka said during a media briefing Thursday.
The Port of LA handled 946,966 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in April. “That’s a 37% spike compared to last year, when global trade dropped with the onset of the pandemic,” Seroka said. “This was by far the busiest April in the port’s 114-year history, outpacing the previous record set just back in 2019 by a hefty 29%.”
He said the port has recorded nine consecutive months of year-over-year volume increases following 11 straight months of declines. “Remarkably, we have continued to average 900,000 TEUs per month dating all the way back to last July.”
The port handled 89 container ships last month, up from 76 in April 2020. And those vessels are being handled efficiently, Seroka said. “We averaged 16 container vessels per day at berth last month. Please remember, before the surge our average was only about 10.”
Port congestion also has eased, according to Seroka.
“We’ve seen as few as 13 container vessels at anchor in the San Pedro Bay over recent days,” he said, noting there were 17 ships at anchor, with eight of them bound for the Port of LA, as of late morning Thursday.
“Another encouraging sign: Fewer ships are going straight to the holding area. We’ve dropped from 90% in February to 65% of vessels heading straight to anchor in the month of April. Average wait time is now 6.7 days after peaking out at 7.9 days in March,” Seroka said.
He noted that nine vessels were at anchor on April 30, representing an additional 132,000 TEUs that will be included in the May numbers.
Although congestion has eased, imports haven’t let up, Seroka said, reporting April import volume totaled 490,127 TEUs, a 32.4% year-over-year increase.
“Exports, however, continue to drag, with less than 115,000 TEUs on that side of the ledger, down 12%. Exports have now dropped 27 of the last 30 months here at Los Angeles,” he said.
“April’s import-export ratio was almost 4.3-to-1, which unfortunately is the highest gap we’ve seen yet,” Seroka said. “And the scramble for empties continues, with over 342,000 empty container units repositioned back to Asia in April. That’s just a few thousand TEUs shy of last month’s all-time record” and an 81.6% increase from April 2020.
The figures for the first four months of 2021 are “off the charts,” he said. “We handled more than 3.5 million TEUs, a 42% increase compared to 2020.”
Seroka noted that total volume from Jan. 1 to April 30 was up 20% compared to the same period in “less-volatile” 2019.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/port-la-volumes-are-charts
May 17, 2021
Port Of LA Volumes Are “Off The Charts”
by Tyler DurdenMonday, May 17, 2021 – 06:10 PM
By Kim Link-Wills of Freight Waves,
The Port of Los Angeles continued its record-setting streak, posting the busiest April in its 114-year history.
“It’s truly been an unprecedented run here in LA,” Executive Director Gene Seroka said during a media briefing Thursday.
The Port of LA handled 946,966 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in April. “That’s a 37% spike compared to last year, when global trade dropped with the onset of the pandemic,” Seroka said. “This was by far the busiest April in the port’s 114-year history, outpacing the previous record set just back in 2019 by a hefty 29%.”
He said the port has recorded nine consecutive months of year-over-year volume increases following 11 straight months of declines. “Remarkably, we have continued to average 900,000 TEUs per month dating all the way back to last July.”
The port handled 89 container ships last month, up from 76 in April 2020. And those vessels are being handled efficiently, Seroka said. “We averaged 16 container vessels per day at berth last month. Please remember, before the surge our average was only about 10.”
Port congestion also has eased, according to Seroka.
“We’ve seen as few as 13 container vessels at anchor in the San Pedro Bay over recent days,” he said, noting there were 17 ships at anchor, with eight of them bound for the Port of LA, as of late morning Thursday.
“Another encouraging sign: Fewer ships are going straight to the holding area. We’ve dropped from 90% in February to 65% of vessels heading straight to anchor in the month of April. Average wait time is now 6.7 days after peaking out at 7.9 days in March,” Seroka said.
He noted that nine vessels were at anchor on April 30, representing an additional 132,000 TEUs that will be included in the May numbers.
Although congestion has eased, imports haven’t let up, Seroka said, reporting April import volume totaled 490,127 TEUs, a 32.4% year-over-year increase.
“Exports, however, continue to drag, with less than 115,000 TEUs on that side of the ledger, down 12%. Exports have now dropped 27 of the last 30 months here at Los Angeles,” he said.
“April’s import-export ratio was almost 4.3-to-1, which unfortunately is the highest gap we’ve seen yet,” Seroka said. “And the scramble for empties continues, with over 342,000 empty container units repositioned back to Asia in April. That’s just a few thousand TEUs shy of last month’s all-time record” and an 81.6% increase from April 2020.
The figures for the first four months of 2021 are “off the charts,” he said. “We handled more than 3.5 million TEUs, a 42% increase compared to 2020.”
Seroka noted that total volume from Jan. 1 to April 30 was up 20% compared to the same period in “less-volatile” 2019.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/port-la-volumes-are-charts
May 17, 2021
Mitsui Chemicals net profit up 70.3% last year May 17/2021 MOSCOW (MRC) — Mitsui Chemicals’ net profit for the fiscal year ending March 2021 posted 70.3% growth despite lower sales, as profitability of its basic materials business benefited from better overseas markets, said the company.
Lower group sales were attributed to declines in product prices, dragged down by falls in values of naphtha and other raw materials and fuel amid the coronavirus pandemic. Its basic materials segment reported a 12.6% year-on-year decline in sales to Y541.4bn, but operating income before special items more than doubled to Y19.6bn from Y9.4bn in the previous fiscal year “due to improved overseas market”.
Mitsui Chemicals said that operating rates at its naphtha crackers were lower than the previous fiscal year due to decreased demand for downstream products, caused by the impact of the coronavirus. “Performance of polypropylene was affected by slowing demand for automotive products. For bisphenol A (BPA) and acetone, the overseas market was at a higher level than the previous fiscal year,” the Japanese producer said.
For the current fiscal year ending March 2022, Mitsui Chemicals is projecting higher earnings, in line with the global economic recovery from a pandemic-induced slump in 2020. Basic materials should be able to generate sales of Y635bn and yield an operating profit before special items of Y36bn, based on the company’s forecasts. “In the chemical industry, although demand is expected to expand due to signs of economic recovery, chemical companies should remain vigilant regarding fluctuations of raw materials and other chemical product markets,” it said.
As per MRC, Kumho Mitsui Chemicals Inc. said it will invest about 400 billion won (USD358.1 million) to expand its chemical manufacturing factory in South Korea’s southwestern region. The joint venture between Korean synthetic rubber maker Kumho Petrochemical and Mitsui Chemicals of Japan said its shareholders approved the investment plan to scale up a methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) factory in Yeosu, 455 kilometers southwest of Seoul.
Phenol is the main feedstock component for the production of bisphenol A (BPA), which, in its turn, is used to produce polycarbonate (PC).
According to MRC ScanPlast report, Russia’s overall estimated consumption of PC granules grew in the Russian market by 27% year on year in January-February 2021 (excluding imports and exports to/from Belarus) to 16,000 tonnes, compared to 12,600 tonnes a year earlier. 
http://www.mrcplast.com/news-news_open-387766.html
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