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When you’re making multi-million dollar decisions about the future of your company or deciding whether it makes sense to buy a plastics company you want to be sure that you look beyond the obvious and take advantage of the insights that plastics industry experts can share.

Mathelin Bay Launches Online Blockchain Enabled Global Marketplace for Plastics

Mathelin Bay Launches Online Blockchain Enabled Global Marketplace for Plastics

ST. LOUIS, April 17, 2018 (Newswire.com) – Mathelin Bay Associates LLC will officially launch its online blockchain enabled global plastics marketplace PlastiTrail.com on May 7, 2018, in Orlando, Florida, at the start of NPE 2018, North America’s largest plastics trade show (Booth S11022). Mathelin Bay, an international plastics industry consulting firm serving plastics industry processors and…

Resin pricing changes abundant in a short February

Resin pricing changes abundant in a short February

February may be the shortest month, but it was a busy one for commodity resin pricing. Regional prices for polyethylene, PVC, solid polystyrene and PET bottle resin all finished higher for the month, while polypropylene took a dive. Prices for all grades of PE were up 4 cents per pound in February, with PVC up…

LyondellBasell buying A. Schulman for $2.25 billion in big materials shakeup

LyondellBasell buying A. Schulman for $2.25 billion in big materials shakeup

In a major global plastics materials deal, LyondellBasell Industries is acquiring A. Schulman Inc. for $2.25 billion. LBI — based in Houston and London — is one of the world’s largest producers of olefins and polyolefins, including polypropylene and polyethylene resins. Fairlawn, Ohio-based Schulman is a leading compounder and concentrates maker in North America and…

US tax changes could drive up M&A valuations

US tax changes could drive up M&A valuations

File photo Bill Ridenour, president of Polymer Transactions Inc., says changes to the U.S. tax structure could drive up prices in mergers and acquisitions. Recent tax cuts passed in the U.S. could have an upward impact on the mergers and acquisitions field. The changes lower the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent…

Markets for PE, PP look beyond 2017 for growth and new capacity

Markets for PE, PP look beyond 2017 for growth and new capacity

Mother Nature in 2017 did her part to reduce the impact of the polyethylene wave on North America. At the same time, the regional polypropylene market might be preparing for a wave of its own. “The polyethylene industry faced two storms this year: Hurricane Harvey and the capacity storm,” Nick Vafiadis said at Global Plastics…

Construction fuels 2017 PVC growth, but 2018 may have risks

Construction fuels 2017 PVC growth, but 2018 may have risks

An increase in U.S. housing starts gave a boost to the regional PVC market through most of 2017. Through October, housing starts were on pace to finish at around 1.25 million units, up a little more than 4 percent vs. 2016. In a similar trend, domestic U.S./Canadian PVC sales — more than 60 percent of…

US PET resin makers seek action against imports

US PET resin makers seek action against imports

Four U.S. PET resin makers are asking for anti-dumping duties to be placed on PET imported from five countries. PET makers DAK Americas LLC, Indorama Ventures USA Inc., M&G Polymers USA LLC and Nan Ya Plastics Corp. America have filed petitions alleging that imports of PET resin from Brazil, Indonesia, South Korea, Pakistan and Taiwan…

BASF buying Solvay’s nylon business

BASF buying Solvay’s nylon business

German giant BASF SE has entered a 1.6 billion euro ($1.9 billion) deal to buy Solvay SA’s nylon business, the two chemical companies announced Sept. 19. Phil Karig, managing director with the Mathelin Bay LLC consulting firm in St. Louis, said the transaction “looks like a win-win deal for both the buyer and the seller.”…

Risks and Opportunities for Middle Market Private Equity Companies Acquiring Plastics Processors

Risks and Opportunities for Middle Market Private Equity Companies Acquiring Plastics Processors

Private equity investors specializing in the middle market (buyout transactions of $ 25 million to $ 1 billion according to PitchBook Data, Inc.) often find themselves with the opportunity to acquire plastics processors. While some private equity companies have had many years and many transactions worth of experience in the plastics space it is quite…

Buying Resins Linked to Plastics Indexes

Buying Resins Linked to Plastics Indexes

It is not unusual for plastic resin buyers, whether purchasing large or small quantities of plastics, to have suppliers present them with the opportunity to buy some resins on a contract basis as an alternative to buying all of their resin on a spot price basis. It is not unusual for plastic resin buyers, whether…

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