Corrected: Arkema plans to invest €200m in Asia by 2012

In the ICIS news story headlined “Arkema plans to invest €200m in Asia by 2012” dated 21 October 2008, please read in the first paragraph … plans to raise its profits margin to 12% … instead of … plans to raise its annual profits growth to 12% … .

And in the seventh paragraph, please read … which planned to raise its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin to 12% by 2010 … instead of … which planned to raise its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to 12% by 2012 … . A corrected story follows.

SHANGHAI (ICIS news)--Arkema plans to invest €200m ($264m) in Asia by 2012 as part of the French chemicals producer’s plans to raise its profits margin to 12%, chief executive Thierry Le Henaff said here on Tuesday.

The company also intended to increase its share of sales in Asia to 20% by 2012, from a projected 15% for 2008, Le Henaff said.

New projects proposed for China included an expansion of hydrogen peroxide capacity and development of the company’s fluorochemicals operations in Changshu, he added.

Arkema was also studying construction of acrylic acid and derivatives plants, possibly in India, Singapore or the Middle East, Le Henaff said.

A proposed acrylic acid joint venture with Essar Chemicals in Vadinar in Guajarat state, India, had been delayed because of a lack of propylene feedstock availability, he added.

“The original plan was postponed, forcing us to look at the timing of that project and alternative options,” he told journalists at a press conference following the official opening of an expansion at Arkema’s joint-venture hydrogen peroxide plant in Shanghai.

Asia was a key part of Arkema’s “transformation strategy”, which planned to raise its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin to 12% by 2010, from a projected 10% in 2008.

Arkema has doubled the capacity of its hydrogen peroxide plant, a joint venture with Shanghai Coking, from 40,000-80,000 tonnes/year. The new line came on stream in September, and the partners are already studying a debottlenecking.

“There are plans to raise the capacity to 100,000 tonnes/year,” revealed Liu Xungeng, president of Huayi Group, parent company of Shanghai Coking.

Arkema was also considering additional opportunities to invest in hydrogen peroxide in China, said Marc Schuller, Arkema vice president with responsibility for industrial chemicals, energy and purchasing.

“The existing site is almost reaching its limit,” Schuller told ICIS news. “The next major expansion would be at another site.”

The next hydrogen peroxide expansion would not take place until 2012, he added.

Arkema also planned to establish research and development (R&D) operations in China, to complement its R&D technical centre in Kyoto, Japan, said Le Henaff.

($1 = €0.75)

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