Weyerhaeuser to sell trim technology
Federal Way, Wash. - Federal Way-based Weyerhaeuser Inc. is soliciting buyers for its newly developed oriented polymer composites technology, which the company said represents an advance in technology used to create wood-plastic composites for exterior building products.
``This technology is used to generate an oriented, low density product with woodlike appearance from virgin and recycled plastics,'' said a Weyerhaeuser news release.
Weyerhaeuser had planned to focus the technology on the exterior trim and fencing markets, the news release said. Company officials could not be reached for comment.
Weyerhaeuser in March sold its containerboard packaging and recycling business to Memphis, Tenn.-based International Paper Co. for $6 billion in cash. The forest products giant sold $16.3 billion worth of goods in 2007.
Mold maker's assets slated for auction
KITCHENER, ONTARIO - Bankrupt mold maker Ledco Ltd. will have its assets auctioned April 9 at its plant in Kitchener.
Ledco went bankrupt Jan. 24. The next day workers occupied the plant to fight for severance pay but a court injunction ordered them off the site Jan. 27. About 70 Ledco workers were represented by Local 1524 of the Canadian Auto Workers union.
Detroit's Big Three automakers were key customers of the mold shop, according to a CAW news release. The union is pressing the original equipment manufacturers for help with severance pay.
Major assets for sale include three FPT Pragma five-axis traveling column horizontal milling machines, a Matsuura MC1000 computer numerically controlled machining center and two Matsuura RA4G CNC twin-pallet vertical machining centers. Corporate Assets Inc. of Toronto will hold the auction.
Itochu buys into Indian packaging firm
TOKYO - Japanese conglomerate Itochu Corp. of Tokyo has bought a 30 percent stake in Mumbai, India-based Narendra Plastic Pvt. Ltd., a plastic packaging manufacturer.
Terms of the deal, announced by Narendra in a March 26 news release, were not disclosed.
``[Itochu's] profound expertise in international operations will bring a host of processes such as improving corporate governance, domain expertise in technology, manufacturing, marketing and a quantum leap in export orders and sales,'' said Neemit Punamiya, Narendra's managing director, in the release.
Itochu, a $95 billion general trading concern with 150 offices in 80 countries, has business interests in such diverse areas as aerospace, equipment manufacturing, food distribution and textiles. It also has interests in chemicals, energy and mining and financial services.
Founded in 1975, Narendra produces about 44 million pounds of plastic products annually, from polypropylene, high-molecular-weight high density polyethylene, low density PE, and biaxially oriented PP. It employs about 600 and has global sales of about $40 million.
Narendra's portfolio includes clients in India and the United States, as well as elsewhere in Asia, Africa, Australia and Europe.
The company's main production facility is in Daman, India. In an April 1 e-mail, Punamiya said Narendra this summer will increase capacity to 52 million pounds per year, with production split between Daman and a new plant in Uttarakhand, India.
Keltic plant in Nova Scotia to make PE
HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA - A petrochemical plant that includes polyolefin reactors has received environmental assessment approval by Nova Scotia's Ministry of Environment and Labour.
Keltic Petrochemicals Inc. proposes building a complex in Golboro, Nova Scotia, which would rely on imported liquefied natural gas. LNG would be used as the feedstock for polyethylene, polypropylene, ethylene, propylene and other petrochemical units. Keltic first proposed the project in 2004.
Approval is conditional on Halifax-based Keltic meeting conditions set out by 59 recommendations.
The petrochemical plant would be the first of its kind in Atlantic Canada. The facility could start up as early as 2011. Keltic earlier indicated it would choose Unipol polyethylene technology for two reactors, each with 770 million pounds of capacity per year.
