LyondellBasell acquires PP compounding assets from Indian firm

November 30, 2015 Updated 11/30/2015

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For the second time this year, polyolefins giant LyondellBasell Industries has made an Indian compounding deal.

This time, Houston-based LyondellBasell has bought the polypropylene compounding assets of Zylog Plastalloys Pvt. Ltd. of Pune for an undisclosed price. Zylog operates PP compounding capacity at plants in Sinnar and Chennai, which LyondellBasell is acquiring in the transaction.

The deal will double LyondellBasell’s automotive customer base, company officials said in a Nov. 30 news release. It also will make the firm India’s third-largest PP compounder with annual capacity of almost 100 million pounds.

In addition to being the world’s largest PP maker, LyondellBasell also leads the globe with annual PP compounding capacity of 2.6 billion pounds. Earlier this year, the firm bought Indian PP compounder SJS Plastiblends Pvt. Ltd.

“We are very optimistic about India’s economic growth and rapidly expanding automotive market,” CEO and chairman Bob Patel said in the release. India currently is the world’s fourth-largest growth market for autos, and is expected to grow 6 to 8 percent annually through 2021.

The deal does not include Zylog’s production of thermoplastic vulcanizates and thermoplastic elastomers.

In August, Patel said that LyondellBasell plans to build a polyethylene resin plant at one of its Texas locations. The new plant could be in a region that includes the firm’s existing PE sites in Matagaorda and Victoria. The firm already is adding 250 million pounds of annual ethylene capacity in Channelview, Texas. Another 800 million-pound capacity ethylene expansion will be completed at LyondellBasell’s plant in Corpus Christi, Texas, by mid-2016.

LyondellBasell also is reviewing a possible 550-million-pound-per-year ethylene boost in Channelview. All of these projects are the result of newfound supplies of shale-based natural gas throughout North American.