The sale of the Ineos Vinyls Italia production units for PVC and VCM at Porto Marghera and Porto Torres / Italy to Safi, the investment company of businessman Fiorenzo Sartor, is now due to be signed on 24 March 2009, under yet another compromise negotiated by Italy’s ministry for economic development. In mid-February, shortly before the Ineos group (Lyndhurst / UK; www.ineos.com) had threatened to declare its Italian subsidiary insolvent, the deal appeared to have been definitively sealed – see Plasteurope.com of 17.02.2009. However, the renewed flare-up of a dispute over repayment of Ineos’ debt had threatened to block it again.

Petrochemicals and energy group Eni (Rome / Italy, www.eni.it) threatened to withhold feedstock from the plants at the two sites as well as at Ravenna / Italy if Safi did not promptly repay more than EUR 80m Eni claims it is owed from a supply pact with Ineos. Eni apparently had wanted EUR 30m repaid by the end of 2008, a commitment Sartor was unable to meet. Under new terms worked out by economic development minister Claudio Scajola with the disputing parties, Safi reportedly has agreed to repay EUR 10m by April 2009 and EUR 5m in July. The remaining EUR 15m would be paid in six instalments starting in January 2010. No timetable has been revealed for repayment of the remaining debt.

Scajola praised the latest compromise as “a very significant agreement” for Italy’s base chemicals industry, and the governor of Sardinia – where Porto Torres is located – as well as some trade union officials said the agreement bodes well for fixing the other problems the island’s aging petrochemicals infrastructure faces. At the same time, a more sceptical “Uilchem” trade union official worried aloud that Safi’s finances may not be strong enough to deal with the challenges the acquisition presents.