Polyethylene supplier Nova Chemicals Corp. has hired M. Holland Co. and Osterman & Co. Inc. as distributors of its butene linear low density polyethylene resins in Mexico.
"A good portion of our total PE capacity and sales is LLDPE, and we've recently expanded it by approximately 1 billion pounds per year with the startup of our newest LLDPE butene reactor," said Nova spokeswoman Andie Stiles.
"As a North American-based PE producer, Mexico is a natural geography for us to have a presence in, and butene LLDPE is in high demand among flexible film producers throughout Mexico," she said.
The new agreements "build upon the success both companies have established with Nova Chemicals in the U.S. and Canada," Nova said in an April 12 news release.
Mubadala Investment Co. of Abu Dhabi, UAE; wholly owns Nova, which is headquartered in Calgary.
"We greatly value our relationships with M. Holland and Osterman & Co., and we are excited to expand our Mexico sales with both of them," said Todd Becker, sales vice president for Nova's polyethylene business.
He described the deal with M. Holland and Osterman as "another critical step in our journey to provide the best products and service to customers and converters in Mexico."
Nova started up its expanded PE1 LLDPE facility in Joffre, Alberta, in December 2016. In the news release, it pointed out the additional capacity "will help meet the growing demand for polyethylene in Mexico and customers throughout the Americas."
Butene LLDPE is used widely in bags and flexible packaging.
Both M. Holland of North Brook, Ill., and Osterman of Cheshire, Conn., are well established in Mexico. In August 2015, M. Holland, which sells more than 1.4 billion pounds of resins per year, opened M. Holland Latinoamérica S. de RL de CV after acquiring Mexico City resin and chemical distributor supplier Grupo Solquim.
A few weeks earlier, Osterman had formed a joint venture company called Osterman Plastics de México S. de R.L. with Industrial Mafra SA de CV of Morelos, Mexico.
"We have great synergies with Nova Chemicals and have enjoyed a long-standing relationship with them in the United States and Canada," said Ed Holland, M. Holland's president and CEO.
"As we continue to leverage opportunities for expansion, such as our acquisitions of Grupo Solquim in Mexico and two resin distributors in Puerto Rico, it's vital to have partners such as Nova Chemicals, whose vision and innovation dovetail well with our commitment to meeting our customers' needs."
Osterman President John Dwyer said that offering Nova's butene LLDPE, "as well as having access to their top-notch technical support, will allow us to further expand our Mexico sales and round out our Latin America supply offering."
Asked how many customers Nova has in Mexico, Stiles said: "While we don't routinely talk about specifics of our customer base, we are excited to be growing our presence in Mexico. In 2016, we built a dedicated sales and technical service team for the Mexico market."
She added: "Our goal is to be one of the largest polyethylene producers in the Americas. An established, significant presence in Mexico is key to that strategy. Our focus on the Mexico market has allowed us to grow and enhance our relationships with direct customers there, resulting in double-digit year-on-year sales growth in Mexico."
At NPE2018, Nova and Osterman have both booked rooms for meetings with customers.
