Styron sells Brazilian PS plant to Unigel group

24 January 2011 19:00  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS)--Styron sold its 200,000 tonne/year polystyrene (PS) plant in Guaruja, Sao Paulo, to Gaxetas e Perfis do Brasil, a company associated with the Unigel group, market sources said on Monday.

A Styron spokesperson confirmed the PS facility was sold on 31 December, but the deal excluded a latex plant at the site. Other details of the sale were not disclosed.

There was much speculation about the future of the PS facility. Styron had idled the plant indefinitely on 23 August 2010, presumably to pare losses while looking for a buyer.

PS sales in Brazil and other South American countries continued until stocks ran out.

A source at Unigel said the company had personnel in charge of planning and studying the plant’s potential for possible re-entry in the market at a future date, but no specifics were provided.

Unigel supplied styrene monomer (SM) to the plant when it was running, making the company one of the most likely candidates to purchase and restart the facility.

Market observers also said this could help Unigel enter the specialty plastics market with products such as styrene acrylonitrile (SAN).

Styron is owned by Bain Capital, which purchased the company from Dow Chemical

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By: George Martin
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