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| November 19, 2003 |
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Establishment of Joint Venture for Acrylic Acid and Acrylates
Business with Sasol of Republic of South Africa |
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| Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation |
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Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (MCC: Head Office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President: Ryuichi Tomizawa) and Sasol Limited (Head Office: Johannesburg, the Republic of South Africa; President: Pieter Cox) have established two new companies in acrylic acid and acrylates business on September 30, 2003 after their careful planning and study since December 2001 when MCC and Sasol had reached to a basic agreement to form those joint ventures. The new companies will start their commercial operation in the early next year.
The purpose of this business alliance is to enable newly formed joint ventures to supply competitive products in terms of quality and price in the world-wide market by combining Sasol's propylene and ethanol produced from coal using its latest coal liquidation technology and its normal butanol with MCC's world competitive production technology of acrylic acid and acrylates. The both companies have established two joint venture companies in the Republic of South Africa, one of which is to market the products and conduct investment activity in the global market, and the other is to manufacture the products.
With respect to normal butanol, MCC has licensed its normal butanol production technology which enables Sasol to produce 150,000 tons of normal butanol annually from December 2002.
Based on MCC's policy in the petrochemical field; "The business which has global competitiveness in technology and market should further enhance its competitiveness and profit either by itself or by collaboration with other companies", MCC positions the formation of joint venture with Sasol as a strategic collaboration.
With the establishment of the joint ventures with Sasol, the biggest chemical company in the Republic of South Africa, MCC will be able to have an alternative path to produce acrylic acid and acrylates from coal in addition to its existing production path from naphtha in its Yokkaichi Plant in Japan. MCC will continue to expand its business in the world-wide market, using its competitive "total acrylic acid chain" to include upstream such as acrylic acid and acrylates business operating with Sasol and downstream such as emulsion and super absorbent polymer business.
| For further information, please contact |
| Public Relations and Investor Relations Dept. |
| Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation |
| Tel: [+81]-(0)3-6414-3738 |
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Outline of Marketing and Investment Joint Venture Company
| Established in |
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September 30, 2003 |
| Company name |
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Sasol Dia Acrylates (Pty) Limited |
| Head office |
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South Africa |
| President |
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Takeshi Kimura (dispatched from MCC. To be rotated) |
| Shareholders |
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MCC (50%)
Sasol (50%) |
| Line of business |
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Business management, marketing, and investment for acrylic acid and acrylates |
| Expected turnover |
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About US$ 130 million (about Yen 143 billion) |
| Employees |
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6 (including 2 dispatched from MCC) |
Outline of Production Joint Venture Company
| Established in |
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October, 2003 |
| Company name |
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Sasol Dia Acrylates (South Africa) (Pty) Limited |
| Head office |
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Republic of South Africa |
| General Manager |
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Moorosi Seboka |
| Shareholders |
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Marketing and investment joint venture company (50%)
Sasol (50%) |
| Line of business |
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Production of acrylic acid and acrylates |
| Production capacity |
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Acrylic acid: 80,000 tons per annum
Butyl acrylates: 80,000 tons per annum
Ethyl acrylates: 35,000 tons per annum
Glacial acrylic acid: 10,000 tons per annum |
| Location |
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In the Sasolburg Plant of Sasol |
| Start of construction |
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November 2001 |
| Completion |
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December 2003 |
| Employees |
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2 (including 1 dispatched from MCC) |
Outline of Sasol Limited -
| Established in |
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1950 |
| President |
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Pieter Cox |
| Employees |
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about 30,000 (at the end of 2002) |
| Line of business (in the year ending in June, 2003): |
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Sales(in million US$) |
Ratio (%) |
| Coal Chemical |
112 |
1.6 |
| Synthetic Chemical |
1,511 |
21.1 |
| Oil refinery and Gas |
942 |
13.2 |
| Chemicals |
4,543 |
63.6 |
| Others |
40 |
0.5 |
| Turnover |
:US$ 7,148 million |
| Net income before taxation |
:US$ 1,319 million |
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| Major products in chemicals: |
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Solvents
Alpha olefins
Polyethylene
Polypropylene
Acrylonitrile
Waxes
Gunpowder
Explosive
Carbon
Fertilizer |
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