Business Concentrates
Total sells Atotech to private equity firm The $3.2 billion sale to Carlyle is the latest in a string of specialty chemical disposals The French energy giant Total has agreed that it initiated in 2015 to raise cash followto sell its Atotech plating chemicals busiing the global collapse in energy prices. Total ness for $3.2 billion to the Carlyle Group, a CEO Patrick Pouyanné says the sale fits with private equity firm. The business is one of a his firm’s commitment to oil, gas, and solar string of specialty chemical operations Toenergy. tal has either spun off or sold since 2006. But Total has been shedding specialty According to press reports, Carlyle beat chemical assets for a decade, starting with other private equity the spin-off of Arkema firms, including CVC in 2006. In 2010, Total Capital Partners and sold three specialty Cinven, to clinch the chemical businessdeal for Berlin-based es—the coatings Atotech, whose resins operations of chemistry is used Cook Composites & to plate automotive Polymers, Cray Valley, components and and the photocure make the fine traces in resins operations of printed circuits. AtoSartomer—to Arkema tech has about 4,000 for $725 million. Last employees, mainly in year, it completed the Germany and China, more-than-$2 billion and annual sales of Atotech makes plating chemicals divestiture of the ad$1.1 billion. used for printed circuit boards. hesives maker Bostik, Besides Carlyle, also to Arkema. other companies have had an eye on plating Carlyle is no stranger to the chemical chemicals for electronics and other uses. industry. In 2012, it spent $4.9 billion to buy Private-equity-supported Platform SpeDuPont’s performance coatings business, cialty Products has spent nearly $4.5 billion now known as Axalta. And in 2007, Carlyle since 2013 to buy MacDermid, OM Group paid $1.5 billion for the specialty glass mate’s electronic chemicals business, and Alent. rials and zeolite catalysts maker PQ Corp. Other firms active in the field include Dow Carlyle is mum about its plans for AtoChemical and Henkel. tech. What it will say is that it believes AtoFor Total, the immediate impetus behind tech is poised for continued growth, which the sale is a $10 billion divestment program it intends to support.—MARC REISCH
BY THE NUMBERS
90%
Amount of CO2 that will be removed from flue gas representing about 10% of the generating power of the W.A. Parish coal-fired power plant near Houston. The plant will house the $1 billion Petra Nova carbon capture system, scheduled to open by the end of the year. The amine-based CO2 scrubber, developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, will be the world’s largest postcombustion carbon capture system deployed in an existing power plant, according to the news service Climatewire. 12
C&EN | CEN.ACS.ORG | OCTOBER 17, 2016
MIDDLE EAST
Shell eyes chemicals in Iran Shell is the latest chemical company to consider investing in Iran now that international sanctions over the country’s nuclear program are being eased on energy, banking, and other key Iranian industries. The Anglo-Dutch firm says it has signed a letter of intent with Iran’s National Petrochemical Co. (NPC) to explore “areas of cooperation.” The letter, Shell notes, is nonbinding. The companies haven’t detailed plans for any particular investment. In March, France’s Total agreed to study a petrochemical complex in Iran, also with NPC. And BASF was earlier reported to be considering a $4 billion investment in the country. BASF won’t confirm any particular investment, but it acknowledges the potential to deepen its involvement in the country. “The lifting and the loosening of sanctions provide a basis for a stronger commitment in Iran,” the German chemical giant tells C&EN. Iran is looking to rebuild its industry following lifting of the sanctions in March. According to the U.S. Congressional Research Service, Iran’s economy shrank by 9% in the two years ending March 2014. Oil production fell from 2.5 million barrels per day in 2011 to 1.1 million bbl in 2013. NPC has the capacity to produce 61 million metric tons of chemicals annually. It hopes to nearly double that over the next decade, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran isn’t the only place in the Middle East where Shell is considering an investment. The company has an agreement with Iraq’s Ministry of Industry & Minerals to develop an integrated ethylene cracker and derivatives complex in southern Iraq, possibly near Basra. Shell recently approved plans to build a complex in Monaca, Pa., that will have 1.6 million metric tons per year of ethylene capacity as well as polyethylene plants. The company hopes to begin construction next year.—ALEX TULLO
CREDIT: SHUTTERSTOCK
SPECIALTY CHEMICALS
