As previously announced, Celanese (Dallas, Texas / USA; www.celanese.com) has finalised its exit from the Polyplastics joint venture (Tokyo / Japan; www.polyplastics.com) before the end of the year (see Plasteurope.com of 24.07.2020). JV partner Daicel (Osaka / Japan; www.daicel.com) will pay the US group USD 1.575 bn (around EUR 1.37 bn) in cash for the 45% stake.

This paves the way for an unimpeded expansion by the US supplier on the Asian market, which was previously largely reserved for Daicel. Tom Kelly, head of the engineered materials division at Celanese, explained that the company intends to invest in the expansion of its product portfolio, especially in materials for applications such as mobile communications, mobility, medical technology and sustainability. At the same time, the company plans to expand production capacity in Asia, a strategy that likely entails further acquisitions in the compounding segment, where Celanese has been increasingly active in recent years (see Plasteurope.com of 17.10.2018).

Following the full acquisition of Polyplastics, Daicel is likely to have similar expansion plans on the other side of the globe. This includes the recently announced construction of a COC facility in Leuna / Germany, which Polyplastics said would be operated by its German subsidiary Topas Advanced Polymers (Raunheim; www.topas.com – see Plasteurope.com of 29.09.2020).