Platform Specialty Products Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Arysta for Approximately $3.51 Billion

Platform Specialty Products Corporation (NYSE:PAH) ("Platform"), a global specialty chemicals company, announced  that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Arysta LifeScience Limited ("Arysta"), backed by the Permira funds for approximately $3.51 billion, subject to regulatory approval.

Arysta has reported net sales of $1.5 billion for the full year 2013 and regions such as Latin America, Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, China and South Asia represented over 65% of Arysta's sales in 2013. 

Arysta's President and Chief Executive Officer, Wayne Hewett, is expected to join Platform's senior leadership team as its President and to lead Platform's three agrochemical businesses i,e  Chemtura AgroSolutions ("CAS"), Agriphar, and Arysta.

The transaction, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2015, is expected to be funded through a combination of cash on hand,  debt, and equity. The acquisition will not have any impact on Platform's status as a U.S.-domiciled company.

FMC Corporation Announces Agreement to Acquire Cheminova for $1.8 Billion

• Cheminova a Denmark-headquartered multinational crop protection company.
• Broadens market access in key geographic regions.
• Expands position in existing crop segments and accelerates access to additional crops.
• Provides new technology applications, including research and formulation expertise.
• Enhances portfolio with complementary products and technologies
• Accretive to adjusted earnings in the first full year.
• Modifies previously announced separation process  ( Alkali + Lithium to be listed as a separate entity as FMC Minerals) with new plan to divest Alkali Chemicals only.  proceeds used to reduce acquisition-related debt.

source: FMC website

Environment ministry use bureaucratic loophole to ease ban

The Union environment ministry has, using a bureaucratic loophole, lifted a ban on expansion and setting up of factories in eight critically polluted industrial  belts. The moratorium was imposed based on the performance of the clusters on a Comprehensive Environmental Pollution Index (CEPI) developed by the Central Pollution Control Board and introduced by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in 2009. It measures industrial belts on a scale of zero to 100.  A reading above 70 is termed “critically polluted”and a moratorium imposed on expansion. After imposing a round of moratoriums on many industrial belts, the UPA government continued to review improvements undertaken to reduce pollution. Industrial belts that improved with time were periodically taken out of the banned list.

But eight of these showed worsening trends: Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh), Panipat (Haryana),

Singrauli (Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh), Vapi (Gujarat), Indore, (Madhya Pradesh),

Jharsuguda (Odisha), Ludhiana (Punjab) and Patancheru-Ballaram (Andhra Pradesh). InSeptember 2013 the government noted, “The CEPI scores indicate (for the eight clusters) thateven after a period of two-and-a-half years of implementation of action plans, there is noimprovement in the environmental quality.” The moratorium on these eight industrial clusters remained.

With pressure building within the UPA to ease the moratorium, the environment ministry asked the Central Pollution Control Board to review the index itself and come up with another formulation within four months. Now, the NDA government has cited a delay in the review of the index to allow new factories and expansion in the polluted industrial zones on merit, practically doing away with the moratorium.

The government order of June 10 reads, “The report with respect to the entire CEPI concept i.e. taking into account all constituents as originally formulated in 2009, is yet to be received from CPCB. It is felt that re-assessment of CEPI  taking into account all its constituents as originally formulated in 2009 are a must before taking a view on re-imposition of moratorium in any centrally polluted area.”It adds, “It has, therefore, been decided to keep in abeyance until further orders…to the extentnit related to the re-imposition of moratorium in eight centrally polluted areas till CPCB reassessesthe CEPI taking into account all constituents of index as originally envisaged in 2009,” the order further stated.

Till the CEPI index is reviewed, the ministry will consider environment clearance of all the projects in these areas. The environment ministry has asked the CPCB to prepare a report on CEPI index within a year instead now which would permit the government to clear expansion and new industrial activity in these zones till the revised index is decided.

Source- Business  Standard