IndustryNEWS Sibur to transfer tyre assets
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ussian chemicals company Sibur has entered into an agreement to transfer its tyre assets to a joint venture formed between Italian tyre maker Pirelli and Russian Technologies, a Russian state-owned firm. The joint venture company will take over the industrial operations of Sibur-Russian Tyres by 2014. Come this November, the partnership will take control of the former Amtel Tire plant in Russia, which has a current capacity of 7 million car and light truck tyres/year. Further, SiburRussian Tyres assets will be moved to the partnership by 2014, bringing its total capacity to 11 million tyres/year. Sibur will receive EUR224 million for the assets from Pirelli and Russian Technologies, divided equally between the two companies.
The deal is in line with an MOU signed in November last year and aims to modernise production and improve the competitiveness of Sibur’s tyre business through the introduction of Pirelli technology. It also aims to establish joint activities in Russia to manufacture steel cord for radial tyres with Sibur to be a long-term supplier of synthetic rubber to Pirelli and its Russian joint ventures. A second Pirelli/Russian Technologies joint venture will be formed to incorporate Sibur’s tyre business producing automotive and heavy-duty truck tyres. The two partners will each have a 40.1% stake in the company. Pirelli will also receive a 10% share in the Sibur subsidiary in exchange for its technology and management expertise.
Lanxess extends supply agreement and plans PBR plant in Asia
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ne of China’s largest tyre companies, Triangle Group, has extended its agreement with German specialty chemicals company Lanxess for the supply of halobutyl rubbers from 2012 to 2014. Lanxess has been supplying the rubbers to Triangle for more than ten years. Halobutyl rubbers are used in the innermost, air and humidity-impermeable layer of a tubeless tyre, allowing for constant tyre pressure. Triangle has an annual capacity of 23 million units and sells to over 160 countries around the world. Meanwhile, Lanxess will locate another of its rubber plants to Singapore’s Jurong Island. The company will invest EUR200 million in building a 140,000 tonnes/year neodymium polybutadiene rubber (Nd-PBR) plant, which will be located next to the company’s EUR400 million butyl rubber plant, currently under construction and to come on stream in the first quarter of 2013.
The plan to have both plants in Asia is in line with Lanxess’s agenda to cater to synthetic rubber for high-performance “green tyres”, which is the fastest growing sector in the tyre industry with an annual growth rate of 9%. Growth is even more pronounced in Asia at 14% a year. Besides the megatrend mobility and call for higher environmental and safety standards in performance tyres, demand is being accelerated by European Union legislation for all tyres to be labelled for fuel efficiency, wet grip and external rolling noise. Japanese tyre manufacturers voluntarily introduced tyre labelling at the start of 2010 and the topic is under discussion in South Korea. Nd-PBR is part of a tyre’s compound and plays a role in reducing energy consumption and tyre abrasion, making cars safer as well as more ecological and economical, says Lanxess. 2 rubber journal ASIA • AUGUST 2011