After starting business on 1 July, the new BASF/Hoechst polypropylene joint venture, Targor GmbH (Rheinstr. 4 G, D-55116 Mainz), is well on its way to becoming a recognised player in its own right. Introducing the company to the press at the recent "Fakuma" trade fair, Robert Genin, BASF's half of the general manager duo – Hoechst's man is Fernando Castells – called the merger a "sensible move" and remarked that it has produced synergies that have "amazed outsiders and surprised even insiders." He said Targor has not only kept the customers of its two parent companies on board, it is also concluding talks with new customers.

The merged PP capacities have a better geographic spread, and there is little customer overlap, said Genin. Hoechst's strengths in central and southern Europe balance BASF's broader stance in the UK and Benelux, while Hoechst's high profile in automotive and home appliance applications complement BASF's up-front position in textiles and packaging. Targor also draws benefit from Hoechst's large proportion of specialities – three-quarters of its business – for compounding and extrusion.

The new PP player expects to move in line with market growth of 5-6% annually. To exploit the shareholders' combined strengths, potential for both expansion and rationalisation have been identified. Targor will spend DEM 500m to lift annual output by 400,000 t to 1.9m t in 2002. A 225,000 t/y gas phase plant to go onstream at Wesseling, Germany, in 1998 will be followed by a plant at Tarragona, Spain.

Rationalisation moves will target the UK, where 30 of 120 jobs will be trimmed at BASF's Wilton compounding site, and Germany, where 170 of 370 jobs will be lost when the slurry plant and related granulation line at Knapsack are closed. "Above-average" growth of 7-10% annually is foreseen for the 270,000 t/y compounding business, and Genin said Targor will follow compounders outside Europe, to North and South America, as well as Asia.

At Fakuma, head of injection moulding, Dr. Hans-Jürgen Kablitz, unveiled Targor's new "Metocene X 50081", which he said is Europe's first commercially produced metallocene PP. Touted as an alternative to PS, the product resulting from BASF's and Hoechst's pooled R&D input is in his words "ideal for injection moulding of thin-wall, highly transparent mouldings." The polymer is currently being produced in a 10,000 t/y gas phase plant at Ludwigshafen using BASF's "Novolen" process. Kablitz said market studies show that demand for metallocene PP will rise to as much as lm t/y by 2005.

READER SERVICE: Press conference speeches by Genin and various charts: PIE-No. 41595 – Speech by Dr. Kablitz on "Metocene X 50081" and data sheets: PIE-No. 42596 – Company portrait brochure "Targor Polypropylene Technology": PIE-No. 41719 (all in English).