Cash offer increased to NOK 13.50 per share
Acceptance of more than 90 percent required
Offer period ends on January 18 , 2013, 16:30 CET
BASF confirms its offer to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of Pronova BioPharma ASA, Lysaker, Norway, [OBX: PRON], and is increasing its cash offer price to NOK 13.50 per share (previously NOK 12.50). The offer period expires at 16:30 CET on January 18, 2013 and will not be extended.
The increased offer corresponds to a premium of 34% above the volume-weighted average share price for Pronova’s shares in the six months prior to announcement of the public takeover offer. Based on all outstanding shares and including all net financial liabilities, the enterprise value would be NOK 4,996 million (approximately €684 million). [1]
“We thank all those shareholders of Pronova who have accepted the offer to date. Following a comprehensive due diligence review and taking into account the opportunities and foreseeable risks in Pronova’s business this increased offer is our last, best and final offer,” said Michael Heinz, member of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE and responsible for the Performance Products segment, which includes the Nutrition & Health division. “We believe that our offer represents the full and fair value to all shareholders and that it provides the best solution for Pronova’s stakeholders.”
All regulatory approvals required for completion of the voluntary offer have been obtained. The offer is subject to fulfillment of all further relevant offer conditions, set out in the offer document published on December 5, 2012, including inter alia that shareholders shall in the aggregate have accepted the offer for a number of shares representing more than 90% of the total share capital of Pronova.
As of January 14, 2013, 16:30 CET, BASF has received acceptances under the voluntary offer for a number of shares representing approximately 70% of the issued shares and votes in Pronova. BASF has obtained irrevocable pre-acceptance commitments for approximately 60% of Pronova’s share capital; including the 50.0% stake held by majority shareholders Herkules Private Equity Fund (held through its funds Herkules Private Equity (Jersey-I) L.P. and Herkules Private Equity (Jersey-II) L.P.), an approximately 9.1% stake indirectly controlled by investment firms Kistefos AS and Kistefos Investment AS and 0.3% held by members of the Board of Directors and management of Pronova.
Except for Herkules Private Equity (Jersey-I) L.P. and Herkules Private Equity (Jersey-II) L.P., all shareholders including those who have tendered their shares to date will be entitled to receive the increased offer price.
BASF expects closing of the offer in the first quarter of 2013.
SOURCE BASF Official press release
RELATED STORIES
BASF’s Pronova takeover threatened by shareholder opposition
RELEASED ON 15/01/13 (DD/MM/YY)
Forte de l'approbation de 39 nouveaux médicaments l'an passé, un record seulement battu en 1996, l'industrie pharmaceutique décèle de nouvelles opportunités de croissance en 2013 après des années de vaches maigres dues à une accumulation de médicaments tombés dans le domaine public.
Que ce soit le cancer, le diabète, les maladies cardio-vasculaires, la sclérose en plaques ou les hépatites, les laboratoires pharmaceutiques misent sur nombre de "blockbusters", de nouveaux médicaments sur lesquels ils misent beaucoup.
Roche, GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly, Biogen Idec, Gilead Sciences et Novo Nordisk figurent parmi les laboratoires disposant de nouveaux produits atteignant une phase cruciale de développement en 2013.
Les groupes européens, grâce à l'arrivée sur le marché de nouveaux médicaments entre 2013 et 2015, ont un potentiel de ventes annuelles allant jusqu'à 64 milliards de dollars (48 milliards d'euros), selon les estimations de la Deutsche Bank.
En prenant en compte le risque d'échec, la banque allemande ramène ce chiffre à 27 milliards de dollars, tandis qu'elle estime les pertes liées à l'arrivée à terme des brevets à seulement 12 milliards de dollars sur la même période.
Simon Friend, responsable du secteur pharmaceutique pour PricewaterhouseCoopers, confirme l'embellie attendue par les analystes de la Deutsche Bank.
RETOUR DES INVESTISSEURS
Il est cependant trop tôt, selon lui, pour estimer que les laboratoires pharmaceutiques sont sortis d'affaire, particulièrement en raison de la ligne dure qu'adoptent les Etats et les assureurs sur le remboursement des nouveaux médicaments.
"La productivité est en train de dépasser le point critique, mais l'autre grande question est de savoir si l'industrie peut obtenir les prix qu'elle veut pour les nouveaux produits", explique-t-il.
Les analystes témoignent toutefois d'un retour des fonds de croissance dans le secteur et d'un regain d'intérêt des investisseurs pour les médicaments en devenir, une tendance à suivre avec alors que Johnson & Johnson et Novartis publient leurs comptes la semaine prochaine.
L'une des homologations les plus attendues, qui pourrait survenir durant le premier trimestre, est le BG-12 de Biogen, un traitement de la sclérose en plaque.
Il concurrencera sur le marché le Gilenya et l'Aubagio, respectivement des laboratoires Novartis et Sanofi.
"Le prix sera élevé, il sera rapidement absorbé par le marché et il sera approuvé en temps et en heure parce que la FDA (Food and Drug Administration) ne peut se permettre de maintenir un tel médicament en dehors du marché", commente Raghuram Selvaraju d'Aegis Capital.
2013, ANNÉE CHARNIÈRE POUR GLAXOSMITHKLINE
Le diabète devrait également faire l'objet de nouveaux traitements, malgré le rejet par la FDA de médicaments à base de dapagliflozine, inhibiteur de SGLT2 pour le traitement du diabète de type 2, proposés par AstraZeneca et Bristol Meyers.
Johnson & Johnson devrait obtenir le feu vert de la FDA pour sa canagliflozine, déjà approuvée par un panel d'experts la semaine passée, alors que le marché du SGLT2 pèsera quelque 7 milliards de dollars en 2020, selon Damien Conover, analyste de Morningstar.
Leader du marché du diabète, Novo Nordisk mise de son côté sur une nouvelle insuline à effet prolongé, appelée Tresiba, pour maintenir ses concurrents à distance. Et le groupe a également de bonnes chances de succès sur le marché du traitement de l'obésité, s'il réussit à prouver que son liraglutide est sans danger et efficace dans la perte de poids.
Pour ce qui concerne le cancer, qui mobilise les investissements en recherche et développement (R&D) les plus lourds, le ramucirumab d'Eli Lilly est particulièrement attendu, d'autant que le laboratoire sera confronté à l'arrivée à terme du brevet de son antidépresseur Cymbalta en décembre.
Eli Lilly dispose par ailleurs de 13 médicaments en phase III de développement, un record pour ce groupe pharmaceutique.
Roche compte lui conserver sa place de leader du marché du cancer avec l'approbation attendue en 2013 du T-DEM1, destiné à traiter le cancer du sein.
Enfin, avec six nouveaux médicaments pour le traitement des affections pulmonaires, du diabète, du cancer et du sida en attente d'approbation et deux traitements pour les maladies cardio-vasculaires et le cancer en phase III, GlaxoSmithKline est peut-être le groupe pharmaceutique qui attend le plus de 2013.
SOURCE Usine Nouvelle
Sources said that UPC's strategy calls for building a new pyrolysis facility at Ufaorgsintez with capacity of about 450,000 tonnes per year. The company might also build new production facilities for polyethylene, polypropylene, polycarbonate, methyl methacrylate, polyethylene terephthalate and other products.
SOURCE Russia & CIS Business and Financial Newswire
Showa Denko is ready to commercialize an acrylonitrile production process with high generation of hydrocyanic acid as byproduct, as part of a plan to expand its acrylonitrile business operations. Details are unavailable, but the process is said to have significantly increased production of hydrocyanic acid and is scheduled to replace the existing process this year to raise derivative production at relatively low investment cost.
Demand is strong for alanine and glycine, two amino acids derived from hydrocyanic acid that are widely used to preserve, fortify and improve the taste of seafood products and processed foods. With the greater availability of hydrocyanic acid, the production of these derivatives can be boosted, thereby enhancing the competitiveness of Showa Denko's acrylonitrile business operations.
The company's plant in Kawasaki is capable of producing 56,000 t/y of acrylonitrile using propylene sourced from within the same complex. The acrylonitrile is supplied to domestic and overseas manufacturers of acrylonitrile derivatives such as acrylic fibers and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer while by-produced hydrocyanic acid is processed into alanine and glycine.
SOURCE Japan Chemical Week
RELEASED ON 14/01/13 (DD/MM/YY)
India’s newfound position as the world’s leading rice exporter has not escaped the attention of China, which may look to its western neighbour for increasingly greater rice supplies over the coming years.
Last year, India overtook Thailand, until then the biggest exporter, with shipments of over 10m tonnes. This is the result of a bumper year of production, and supplies are in line to increase again this year.
Speaking at an industry event in New Delhi, Shenggen Fan, director general of the US-based International Food Policy Research Institute, said that China imported rice from India for the first time after a lengthy gap.
“It is just the beginning and China’s rice import from India could enhance in the coming years with cost of labour, water and land increasing,” he told The Economic Times. “Also, it is cheaper to import food grains from India instead of providing subsidies to farmers.”
Opening up
China only decided to open up to India for rice imports last year, and it is still early days for the trade. The two countries resolved their differences concerning quarantine, quality and regulatory protocols midway through 2012 after a long and taxing six-year process. Negotiations began on the issue of rice in 2006, when President Hu Jintao visited India. It took a second visit from Hu last April to give the final push to the long-running process.
Vijay Setia, president of the All India Rice Exporters Association, said at the time of the decision: “It will take a while for us to develop the market,” and many Indian rice exporters expect it will still take at least two years before exports begin to near their potential.
It will also take some time for Chinese consumers to adopt the Indian grain as they have traditionally favoured the fragrant, glutinous and sticky jasmine rice from Thailand and Vietnam over the aromatic basmati from South Asia.
Wheat on the anvil
Importing wheat from India is also a strong possibility, according to Fan, although China currently buys largely from the US, Canada and Australia and not from its neighbour. “However, there is scope for import as India has massive stocks of rice and wheat.”
Last year saw a record output by India of over 104m tonnes of rice and almost 94m tonnes of wheat.
SOURCE Food Navigator Asia
An electrical fire on Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner is drawing renewed scrutiny for lithium-ion batteries, an increasingly important component in planes and hybrid cars.
A Japan Airlines 787 experienced a battery fire while parked on the ground in Boston on Monday, causing substantial damage in an equipment bay. While the plane is designed to contain the smoke from such a fire in-flight, because it was on the ground the smoke entered the cabin.
The use of the new battery technology is among the cost-saving features of the 787, which Boeing says burns 20 percent less fuel than rival jets using older technology.
Boeing used electrical systems extensively on the 787 instead of traditional hydraulic equipment - a change that reduced the 787's weight but added to its complexity.
Lithium-ion batteries can catch fire if they are overcharged, and once alight, they are difficult to extinguish because the chemicals produce oxygen, Boeing's chief engineer for the 787, Mike Sinnett, said on a conference call with reporters Wednesday.
Engineers designed multiple onboard systems to prevent overcharging, contain a battery fire and siphon smoke away before it reaches the cabin, Sinnett said.
He said a lithium-ion battery was not the only choice of battery, but "it was the right choice" and "knowing what I know now, I'd make the same choice now."
Sinnett wouldn't discuss specifics of the Japan Airlines fire, which is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board, and it wasn't known whether there was a fault with the battery, which was made by GS Yuasa Corp, which has said it is investigating. [ID:nL4N0AE0LH] Sinnett said Boeing is not considering using different battery technology.
The battery that caught fire was part of an auxiliary power unit designed to provide electricity when the plane is on the ground. The battery is about twice as large as a car battery and it has been extensively tested, both in the lab and in operation. "We've got 1.3 million operating hours on these battery cells in flight with no issues," Sinnett said.
TEST AND RE-TEST
A similar challenge confronts automakers and other users over lithium ion batteries, which are used in laptops and other electronics.
"It is always difficult to predict the level of safety precaution needed for new technology," said Menahem Anderman, a battery consultant who worked on the Boeing 777 battery systems when he was at Acme Electric Corp, in an email.
"One of the challenging design criteria that automakers are struggling with is whether it is necessary to ensure that if a single cell catches fire, the fire does not propagate to other cells," he said.
While Dreamliner passengers may not realize there is a lithium-ion battery inside the plane, drivers of electric cars do. The auto industry has been increasingly veering toward using lithium-ion batteries rather than the cheaper, but heavier nickel-metal hydride battery used by Toyota Motor Corp in its top-selling Prius.
General Motors Co, the largest U.S. automaker, uses a lithium-ion battery in its Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid, while its smaller U.S. rival Ford Motor Co uses the technology in its green cars, including the recently launched C-Max hybrid.
The technology is favored in the latest generation of such cars for the same reason plane makers are keen to use it -- the batteries can be made lighter, smaller and in a way that retains capacity longer. Lithium-ion batteries are about half the weight of nickel-metal hydride batteries.
In 2011, a lithium-ion battery pack in a Volt caught fire three weeks after a U.S. safety regulators conducted a crash test. But after a two-month investigation, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration determined that the Volt and other electric vehicles posed no greater risk for a fire than gasoline-powered vehicles.
Lithium-ion battery maker A123 Systems was forced to recall battery packs made for Fisker Automotive's plug-in hybrid sports car, the Karma, last year. A123, which ultimately went bankrupt, citing a manufacturing defect for the problems in the batteries.
"Because they're new and different, a fire in an electric car gets a lot more attention than in a gas car," said Tom Gage, a battery expert whose company EV Grid works on ways to manage the charging of electric cars. "The standard is, are they as safe as the gas tank? That's certainly the target they have to strive for."
He said there probably wasn't enough data to determine their comparable safety record.
GM is exploiting the technology aggressively in the Volt, having done 100 million miles of drive testing by the CEO's account. Chief Executive Dan Akerson said Wednesday that GM tests the batteries "like you wouldn't believe" and was confident in its safety procedures. He declined to comment on Boeing's battery use.
SOURCE Reuters
German chemicals company Evonik said Friday it will be expanding output of C4-based products, including butadiene, methyl tertiary butyl ether and 1-butene, at its Antwerp, Belgium and Marl, Germany, sites.
Butadiene production in Antwerp will be increased by 100,000 mt/year, while 1-butene capacity at Marl will be raised by 75,000 mt/year. The combined MTBE production at both sites will be expanded by 150,000 mt/year.
The expanded capacity, aimed at meeting increasing demand, is expected to be on stream by 2015, Evonik said, adding investments in this project would run into hundreds of millions of euros.
Evonik said the 1-butene output expansion, once completed, would make it the world's largest supplier.
Butadiene is used in the production of synthetic rubber, which is mainly used in the tire industry. 1-butene is used as a co-monomer in the production of polyethylene and other polymers. MTBE, a fuel component, raises the octane level of gasoline and improves fuel combustion.
SOURCE Platts
RELEASED ON 07/01/13 (DD/MM/YY)
St. Louis crop biotechnology company Monsanto Co. MON +0.61% plans to invest an additional 50 million euros ($66.17 million) in the south of France, to extend its production of canola, maze and sunflower over 215,278 square feet, French Business daily Les Echos reports Monday, citing senior executive at the company.
"This investment will create 20 qualified jobs, technicians and engineers, along with 80 seasonal jobs," adds Jean-Paul Ferrif, deputy mayor of the city of Trebes, where Monsanto plans to expand its presence.
SOURCE ICIS News - For internal use only
Further strengthening presence in Asia Pacific
Bayer MaterialScience has officially opened its first Polymer Development & Technology Center in South Korea. Located in the city of Yongin near the capital Seoul, it will focus on the development of new polycarbonate applications for high-tech products from Korean companies especially in the automotive and IT sectors. The new tech center adds to a network of research and development hubs around the globe and major production sites in Asia Pacific.
“Over the past decade, Korea has emerged as a center for cutting-edge high-tech products,” said Michael Koenig, Executive Committee Member of Bayer MaterialScience and Head of the Polycarbonate Business Unit. “Large Korean companies are offering their latest technology worldwide, but their development and research mainly happens in Korea. With our new tech center we can be closer to them, better engage in long-term R&D partnerships and fulfill their needs with greater efficiency and speed.” Koenig believes that the center will become a driving force in the further development of innovative products in Korea.
SOURCE ChemEurope
RELEASED ON 14/01/13 (DD/MM/YY)
The pharma industry is grappling with a ‘strategic crisis’ according to three quarters of companies surveyed in a report from consultancy firm Roland Berger. The problem is shrinking margins, caused by price and cost pressure, regulatory change and expiring patents.
The top 10 pharma companies increased sales by 13% from 2009 to 2010, but their profits dropped during the same period by 4%. Compounding the problem in the long term, R&D costs have risen 80% over the past 10 years, while the number of new product launches has dropped by 43%.
Emerging markets offer the biggest growth – their market share is set to rise to 40% by 2016. The market for pharmaceutical products will grow on average by 4.5% annually until 2016. But growth in emerging markets will increase by almost 12%. China, Brazil, India and Russia (the so-called BRIC economies) in particular are experiencing high growth.
Half of the companies said they would be willing to move their administration, R&D and sales departments to emerging market regions.
SOURCE Chemistry World
Asahi Kasei is running its two acrylonitrile (CAN) plants in Japan at a reduced rate of 70-80% because of weak demand, a company source said on Friday.
Its 150,000 tonne/year plant in Kawasaki is operating at around 70% of capacity, while its 200,000 tonne/year plant in Mizushima is running at a slightly higher rate of about 80%, the source said.
Asahi Kasei’s third ACN line with a 100,000 tonne/year capacity in Mizushima, on the other hand, has been shut since May 2012 with no definite restart date.
The company is a major ACN producer in Japan.
In the week ended 4 January, ACN prices were assessed at $1,800-1,850/tonne (€1,350-1,388/tonne) CFR (cost & freight) northeast (NE) Asia, up by about $50/tonne from the previous month, according to ICIS.
($1 = €0.75)
SOURCE ICIS News - For internal use only
Westlake Chemical has started the expansion of its Petro 2 ethylene unit located in Lake Charles, Louisiana, US.
The expansion at the site, which includes two ethylene plants, two polyethylene (PE) plants and a styrene monomer plant, will increase ethane-based ethylene capacity by 230 - 240 million lbs per annum.
"Westlake Chemical has started the expansion of its Petro 2 ethylene unit."
The combined capacity of the two ethylene and PE plants are 2.5 and 1.4 billion lbs per annum respectively, while the styrene plant has a capacity of 570 million lbs per annum.
The project, which is the first stage of a two-phase expansion, is expected to increase overall ethylene capacity at the Lake Charles site by 500 million lbs/year by 2015, reports Chem Week.
The expansion work, which is taking place during a scheduled maintenance turnaround, is expected to complete in 60 days.
In addition to ethylene and propylene, Westlake manufactures various petrochemicals including polymers, polyethylene, styrene, caustic soda, vinyl chloride monomer, polyvinyl chloride and PVC pipe.
SOURCE Chemicals-Technology.com
Pest Control Solutions, Professional Turf & Ornamental to merge into one business unit.
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC, January 10, 2013 -- BASF announced it will take its distinct businesses within the U.S. non-crop markets and merge them into one. The primary businesses known as Pest Control Solutions and Professional Turf & Ornamentals (T&O), and secondary businesses including Professional Vegetation Management and Market Business Development, will now collectively be known to the marketplace as the BASF Specialty Products Department (SPD). Each respective market will continue to be served, but BASF will do so as one business unit led by Jan Buberl, Director of Specialty Products.
“Having these businesses come together as one strengthens BASF and its commitment to the specialty markets, and the acquisition of Becker Underwood underscores a continued commitment and investment to grow,” said Nevin McDougall, Senior Vice President, North America, BASF Crop Protection. “The new SPD unit will be built to last for the long term, while meeting the needs of customers in these markets.”
“We are merging the businesses to stay ahead of the curve of the industries we serve,” said Buberl. “As the T&O and Pest Control markets move closer together, this merger puts us in a position to better serve our customers.”
Key changes related to this reorganization include the business manager roles of PCS and T&O being dissolved and consolidation of the PCS and T&O marketing departments. Dan Carrothers, formerly PCS Business Manager, and Brian Lish, formerly T&O Business Manager, assume the newly created roles of SPD Marketing Manager and Strategic Account Manager, respectively. Both Carrothers and Lish will report directly to Jan Buberl.
In addition to a strategic account sales structure and approach, SPD sales also includes an inside sales force and a traditional field sales approach that is divided into three regions for both key businesses. Three regional sales managers overseeing these territories will have both T&O and PCS field sales representatives reporting to them and those sales reps will remain dedicated to the respective markets they serve. Both the inside and field sales teams will be led by Jim Derbyshire, National Sales Manager, who will also report to Buberl.
With this merger comes the move of the PCS business, currently located in St. Louis, Missouri, to Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. The new SPD business structure will be in place by March 31, 2013.
SOURCE BASF Official Press Release
*** Adds 2.6 million tonnes per year of new finished product capacity
*** World-scale facility increases jobs in Singapore
*** ExxonMobil begins producing specialty grade metallocene polymers in Asia
ExxonMobil has commenced start-up operations at one of the world’s largest ethylene steam crackers, the centerpiece of the company’s multi-billion dollar expansion project at its Singapore petrochemical complex.
The expansion, powered by a new 220-megawatt cogeneration plant, adds 2.6 million tonnes per year of new finished product capacity. It includes two new polyethylene plants, a polypropylene plant, a metallocene elastomers unit, an oxo-alcohol unit and an aromatics expansion, all of which are completed and beginning operations. Ethylene production is expected to start in the next few months.
”We have doubled the size of our new finished product capacity at Singapore, making this the largest chemical expansion project in ExxonMobil history,” said Steve Pryor, president, ExxonMobil Chemical Company. “This is among the most technically advanced and competitive manufacturing sites in Singapore and the Asia Pacific region.”
The petrochemical expansion is significant to ExxonMobil. It makes the Singapore facility ExxonMobil’s largest refining and petrochemical complex. It also marks the first production by ExxonMobil of its proprietary specialty elastomers and metallocene-based polyethylene in the Asia Pacific region.
The expansion will increase the chemical plant workforce by 50 percent, bringing total employment at ExxonMobil’s Singapore integrated refining and chemical complex to 1,800. During peak construction, the project employed on site 22,000 workers who achieved more than 80 million work hours with no lost-time injuries in construction activities.
Matthew Aguiar, chairman and managing director, ExxonMobil Asia Pacific Pte Ltd said: “The completion of this expansion is a significant achievement for ExxonMobil and it demonstrates our continued confidence in Singapore.”
The expansion also includes a new cogeneration plant which allows for the efficient generation of electricity to run pumps, compressors and other equipment, while at the same time producing additional steam needed in the production processes. Cogeneration is significantly more efficient than traditional methods of producing steam and power separately, resulting in lower operating costs and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.“In addition to the cogeneration plant, the new expansion also employs various new technologies, such as the membrane bioreactor technology for water treatment, to minimize the impact of our operations on the environment,” said Georges Grosliere, venture executive and manufacturing director of the Singapore Chemical Plant, ExxonMobil Chemical Company.
ExxonMobil has operated in Singapore for more than 100 years and is one of Singapore’s largest foreign manufacturing investors. The company has expanded refining and petrochemical production in Singapore to meet expected demand for transportation fuels and the chemicals used for plastics and other manufacturing across the Asia Pacific region.
SOURCE EXXONMOBIL Official Press Release
Styrolution said on Thursday it has successfully restarted its 485,000 tonne/year styrene plant in Texas City, Texas, and is ramping up to planned production rates.
The company did not say exactly when it started up the facility.
The plant went down on 12 December following a small controlled fire.
SOURCE ICIS NEWS - For internal use only
RELATED STORIES
Styrolution Texas City styrene unit to remain down until January