PODCAST: ICIS acquisition of CDI strengthens North America position – ICIS & CDI executives

BARCELONA (ICIS)–The acquisition of polymer data and analytics provider Chemical Data (CDI) by ICIS strengthens its position in North America while giving CDI a new global platform.

• Acquisition of CDI fits with “four C’s” rationale: country, content, customer and capability
• CDI strengthens ICIS in the North America market
• CDI gains access to ICIS global marketing and sales teams
• CDI can now accelerate its global growth, technology and sales plans
• CDI had been approached by more than a dozen companies before partnering with ICIS
• Record demand for polyethylene (PE) for packaging in North America
• PE product shortages caused by outages and project delays
• First wave of US polymer expansions did not hit margins as badly as anticipated
• Pandemic may cause companies to reconsider timing of further PE expansions
• PE exports now account for 40% of US production, and this may grow to 50%
• Polypropylene (PP) near-term outlook is more negative with large project due onstream and margins under pressure
• New capacities will keep margins and spreads ‘contained’
• But big wave of new US PP over next 12-24 months has been delayed
• US seeing V-shaped recovery in automotive
• Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) demand is improving with an outage contributing to very low inventories
• Crisis is driving change across the chemical industry
• Industry pivoted quickly to help solve challenges of pandemic

Listen to this podcast interview with Dean Curtis, president and CEO at ICIS; Jason Brown, president of CDI and Brian A Pruett, senior vice-president, PE & PP sales and business development at CDI.

Interview by Will Beacham