Basell agrees sale of Rozenburg PP plant to Belgium's Domo

08 May 2001 16:11  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (CNI)--European polyolefins producer Basell has agreed to sell its Rozenburg, The Netherlands polypropylene (PP) plant to Belgian chemicals and soft flooring manufacturer Domo.

It said Tuesday that Domo will acquire the 180 000 tonne/year capacity plant for an undisclosed sum and take over the site on 1 June, subject to relevant regulatory approvals.

The facility, which employs just under 100 people, is being sold as part of Basells's undertakings last year to the European Commission (EC) to divest PP capacity.

Germany's BASF and the Anglo-Dutch Shell group, Basell's joint owners, agreed to sell PP resins plants with a combined capacity of at least 600 000 tonne/year in return for EC approval for their formation of Basell. The two companies also agreed to divest 130 000 tonne/year of PP compounding capacity.

Basell said the sale of Rozenburg to Domo would complete the EC's PP capacity divestment requirements. The plant is one of two Dutch PP resins production facilities owned by Basell. The other plant is located at Pernis.

Jan De Clerck, Domo president, said the acquisition served two main aims: diversification and independence. "The manufacturing of our own raw materials - vertical integration - has been Domo's policy since 1993. This will further strengthen our company and broaden our product portfolio."

Volker Trautz, Basell president and chief executive, commented: "Domo has been a valued customer and we are pleased this sale agreement takes our relationship to another important level."

Although acquisition of the Rozenburg plant will give Domo a captive source of feedstock for its floor covering products, output from the plant will exceed comfortably its requirements and oblige the company to sell surplus PP on the open market.

Agreement on the sale of the Rozenburg plant was foreshadowed in CNI last week. It comes only a week after ExxonMobil completed the purchase of Basell's Lillebonne, northwest France PP resins and compounding facilities. Lillebonne has 250 000 tonne/year of polymerisation capacity and 130 000 tonne/year of compounding capacity. In March, Basell sold its 195 000 tonne/year PP resins plant at Cologne, Germany to Dow Chemical.

By: Neil Sinclair
+44 20 8652 3214

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