Veba acquisition promotes DSM
15 Jan 2000
DSM is to join the polyolefin majors by buying Vestolen, the polypropylene and polyethylene businesses of Veba Oel, the German oil conglomerate. The deal and subsequent engineering programmes, costing Fls1billion, would propel DSM ahead of the current European leader, Borealis.
The Vestolen business consists of two plants - a 150,000t/a PE facility and another for PP, with 200,000t/a of capacity - both at Gelsenkirchen, Germany, which is 'practically adjacent to' DSM's polyolefins complex at Geleen, the Netherlands. Capacities at Gelsenkirchen will be expanded by DSM, with a new 300,000t/a gas-phase LLDPE plant and a 250,000t/a PP gas-phase unit planned to come on-stream by the year 2000. Veba will continue to supply the site with feedstock from its steamcrackers on the site, which it also intends to expand.
One of the reasons for the acquisition was a lack of space for expansion at Geleen, says DSM. This currently houses 970,000t/a of PE and 550,000t/a of PP, giving DSM 10 per cent of the European PE market, and 7 per cent of PP. With the expanded Vestolen site, DSM will go from fifth place in the polyolefin rankings to first, leapfrogging Borealis; Dow Chemical; the BASF/Montell PE joint venture; the BASF/Hoechst PP joint venture; and Polimeri Europa.
