Document 3Q4Nnxq7a4nYG48pGaoDXn0b6

J newsdesk r ICI, Schering named in new Philips-Duphar bid reports Monsanto sets date for exit from PCB market Monsanto, the sole US producer of polychlorinated biphenyls, has fixed aiif.k nearly two years of silence follow revival of the merger plan. ing (he failed merger attempt with Akzo Main stumbling block up to now has Phnrmn, the Dutch pharmaceutical and been Philips* unwillingness to break up Agrochemicals Arm Philips-Duphar is Duphar and sell off its component parts. reportedly headed for new owners. In this ease, it is said for instance that Reports in the Dutch picss named Schering is interested only in the drugs the new suitors as ICt and Schering. side, whereas ICI wants the agrochemi Roth ICI and Schering declined to com cals and fine chemicals business, repre ment hut parent company Philips Indus- senting around 40 per cent of turnover. tries significantly has not denied their Last year's reorganisation of Duphar involvement. into two seperale divisions, however, Since 1969, there have been at least has been interpreted as u change in three attempts by (lie Hindliovcn-hascd parent company policy, Certainly ihcrc parent electronics group to sell ofT its have been approaches from other firms loss-making cheTiticals subsidiary. Did to buy Duphar's consistently profitable ders included Koninklijkc Zout US operations as a seperale unit. Organon, later to become part of Akz.o I leadqunrtcml in Amsterdam. and Dow Chemical, which broke off Philips-Duphar is organized in two divi talks in 1973. Finally in 1975, the Akzo sions: pharmaceuticals, which is said to Pharma deal fell through. be profitable and crop protection, which Rumours since then have linked the isn't. The company is a leading producer company with a major US group. And of vitamins A and D. and various in even now Philips maintains that the two secticides. fungicides and herbicides. A Europcon firms arc not the only ones quarter of its 4 000-strong workforce are interested. Akzo Pharma itself has never in the Netherlands. completely given up its aspirations to Sales, though not disclosed, arc over wards Duphar, hut the group's financial /1 billion a year. Also not disclosed is problems have effectively ruled out any the extent of its losses. October 31 next year as the deadline for its fmul exit from the market, A similar announcement from Monsanto Europe is expected very shortly. Hy no later than that dale, the com pany will close its US plant, complete distribution of inventories, and cease selling the product. And, says Earle H. Hnrlmon. general manager of Mon santo's specialty chemicals division, it would have got out earlier had the electrical industry been faster to con* veil its equipment to use suhsitutes. The move follows more than five years of growing criticism of PCUs for their toxicity, non-hiodegradabilily and accumulation in the food chain. Several years ago, Monsanto voluntarily restric ted their use lo closed system electrical applications (transformers, capacitors). in a related move, MeGrnw-Edison Co. announced that on November ) this year, it will begin replacing PCDs in its power capacitors with a more en vironmentally acceptable product, buty- laical monochlorodiphcnyl oxide, de veloped jointly with Dow Chemical. The product, called XFS-4I69L by by Dow and fuhsol by MeGrnw-Edison, is made at Midland where a S2'5m. ex Italian fertilizer price rises granted pension will double capacity to 2-3m. potnul/year by mid-1977. The capaci tors will cost about 25 per cent more lilt! 11ai ian government Iasi week fin To replace the lost jobs, Montedison than earlier models, hut tests have ally announced its long-awaited sanc tion for a general rise in fertilizer prices. The Increases average 15 per cent and range front II per cent at the bottom end to 23 per rent at the top. Phosphate prices will remain unchanged. will build a L5 billion plant to produce shown the new insulating fluid is less specialities lor the veterinary market. toxic and more biodegradable than This is expected to employ 100 workers pcn. and hits (he same or better per* Land be in operation in two years* time. Another 100 workers will be found jobs on a new 30 000 (on/year PVC com formiaancc. Granted only after long, tortuous, and frequently delayed meetings of the price commission CU\ (lie increases arc well under the 32 per cent rise sought by the producers. They also only take into account the increase in methane prices; Montedison, which operates a naphtha-based ammonia plant at Priolo, estimates it would need price rises of over 30 per cent to cover higher feedstock costs. Meanwhile, after long and difficult negotiations Montedison and the labour unions have finally agreed a plan In reorganize the obsolescent Porto Ftnpcdnclc fertilizer plant in Sicily, The agreement guarantees work for all 428 employees presently laid off. Workers displaced by the rundown in fertilizer production will be found jobs in new line chemical and plastic proces sing operations Montedison has prom ised to build. In the meantime, the .phosphate fertilizer side will be kept in operation while Montedison continues pounding operation costing around 1J5 billion and due. in production within two and a half years. Also in the plastics processing sector, the company will start making water tanks, but with other companies managing the business. On the chemicals side, Montedison hopes to take a minority interest in a joint venture with an undisclosed com pany to build a 5-8 000 lon/ycar poly mer stabilizers plant. This would cost L4 billion and start production within the next two years. Burmali sues Bank (or return of B.P shares iiurmaji Oil. which earlier this week an nounced pre-tax losses of l5m. for first half 1976. is suing the Rank of England over the !79m. deal in January 1975 giving the Hank Hurmnh's 20 per cent shareholding in BP. Burmah hopes for the return of the 77-8m. HP shares, now Italian workers strike onAvteiarn Pwrioorkloers pion lluthteionPriolo area staged a one-day strike earlier this week (Wednesday. October 13), in an attempt to urge the government to lake decisive action to arrest the level of environmen tal pollution in the area. In ihc wake of the Seveso incident the Sicilian regional authority decided to suspend all licences for new indus trial development in Ihc region and promised to introduce environmental control measures after further investiga tions. Two months have elapsed but little appears to have been done. No decisions have been announced even with regard to the proposed Mon* trdisun/IC! joint aniline complex due to he built at Priolo. Ihc Sicilian re gional authoiity IRFIS has already granted Montedison a L10 billion loan lo aid construction costs but the com pany is still wailing for an operating its efforts to tell it off. worth 451 m., plus damages and costs. permit from the regional authority. MONS 031667