Transammonia's Swiss unit to wind down business with Iran

13 December 2010 23:29  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS)--Transammonia's Swiss subsidiary, Trammo Trading, will wind down business with Iran as soon as possible, the company said on Monday.

Also, the subsidiary will not enter into any new contracts with any company in Iran, Transammonia said.

Trammo Trading has transacted business from time to time with Iran, the company said. Such transactions have typically involved the purchase of anhydrous ammonia and sulphur from Iran for resale to customers in other countries outside of the US.

Specifically, Trammo Trading had purchased anhydrous ammonia from a complex owned by Razi Petrochemical, Transammonia said. The complex was not owned by either Iran Petrochemical Commercial Co (IPCC) or National Petrochemical Co (NPC), contrary to earlier reports.

IPCC acts only as a marketer for Razi Petrochemical, Transammonia said. In fact, Razi is a private company, and at least 83.59% of its shares are owned by Turkish companies.

Moreover, such transactions as Trammo Trading's are permitted by US law, Transammonia said.

Neither Transammonia nor Trammo Trading has any employees or investments in Iran, the company said.

Moreover, decisions concerning those transactions are made independently by the foreign subsidiary, and the proceeds of any such transactions are retained outside of the US, the company said.

Earlier this year, Trammo Trading began evaluating its business with Iran in light of the activities of the Iranian government, the company said. Other reasons for the review include changes in both the international business climate and in sanctions from the European Union, the US and the United Nations, Transammonia said.

As such, Trammo Trading concluded that it would begin withdrawing from activities with Iran, subject to contractual obligations, the company said. The wind down should be completed by the first half of 2011.

None of Transammonia's US subsidiaries are involved in any business in Iran, the company said. Nor are they transacting any business with Iran.

Earlier in the year, US producer Huntsman announced that its indirect foreign subsidiaries that had been selling products to third parties in Iran would discontinue doing so and would exit any contractual arrangements there as quickly as legally possible.

The company said in January that while “such sales have been done in full compliance with US law, it was determined that the small amount of business done there does not justify the reputational risk currently associated with doing business with entities located in Iran, due to the growing international concern over the policies of the current regime there”.

LyondellBasell had begun cutting business ties with Iran, Syria and Sudan roughly a year ago, the company said. The withdrawal primarily affected the licensing of technologies to produce plastics.

That business was conducted by non-US LyondellBasell subsidiaries.

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By: Al Greenwood
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