BASF and Alpek change EPS and PU business units

German chemical maker BASF SE and Alpek SAB de CV, the petrochemicals division of Mexican conglomerate Alfa Group, have agreed to change the business units of their 50-50 Polioles SA de CV joint venture in Mexico.
 
Polioles is a petrochemical company that manufactures and markets a range of chemical products; it is a subsidiary of BASF AG.
 
As part of the deal, expected to be completed by early 2015, Alpek will acquire Polioles’ expandable polystyrene (EPS) business, including its EPS production facility in Altamira, Mexico.
 
BASF, meanwhile, will acquire Polioles’ polyurethane (PU) business activities, including selected assets in its Lerma, Mexico, facility as well as all marketing and selling rights for PU systems, isocyanates and polyols.”
 
According to a BASF press release, Alpek will also purchase BASF’s EPS business operations in North and South America, including BASF’s EPS sales and distribution channels in both regions; BASF’s EPS production facilities in Guaratinguetá, Brazil, and General Lagos, Argentina; and BASF’s EPS foam parts business in Chile (Aislapol, SA).
 
The transaction does not include BASF’s Neopor (gray EPS) business. BASF will continue to sell Neopor to its customers in Canada, the U.S., and South America. In Mexico, Alpek will sell Neopor for BASF, “based on a distribution agreement.”
 
The combined capacity of all EPS production facilities to be acquired by Alpek is about 230,000 tonnes per year.
 

“The acquisition of the PU business significantly strengthens BASF Performance Materials’ industry-oriented customer solutions approach across North America and globally,” said Raimar Jahn, President Performance Materials, BASF. “BASF will focus its EPS business on strategic markets in Europe and Asia as well as on Neopor, which is produced in Germany and Korea.”

Alpek is said to be the largest petrochemical company in Mexico and the second largest in Latin America.