INEOS and Solvay have combined their chlorvinyls businesses to give customers a better deal – and keep them at the heart of Europe’s chemical industry.
INOVYN is now one of the top three PVC producers in the world.
“This is now truly a world-scale business, and well placed to respond rapidly to changing European markets,” said Chris Tane, CEO of INOVYN.
News that the joint venture had received European Commission approval was quickly followed by further announcements in September, which included the suspension of the last remaining mercury cellroom at Runcorn in the UK to meet EU requirements, the planned permanent closure of its PVC production facility in Schkopau in Germany and the proposed major investment in a huge production facility at its Antwerp/ Lillo site in Belgium.
Production at Schkopau had been suspended since December 2014 because its VCM supply contract with DOW had expired, and sadly all attempts to agree a new competitive long-term contract had failed.
In Belgium, though, work had begun on a largescale plant – using the latest technology – to underpin INOVYN’s position as Europe’s leading supplier of potassium hydroxide.
INOVYN, whose headquarters are in London, employs 4,300 people at 18 manufacturing sites in eight countries. The business has an annual turnover of more than 3.5 billion Euros.
Every year it manufactures 40 million tons of chemicals which find use in almost every aspect of modern society, keeping people housed, healthy and connected.
As part of the deal, Solvay, which has a strong heritage in the chlorvinyls industry, will exit the joint venture in 2018, leaving INEOS as the sole owner of the business.