Solvay Indupa

History

Indupa (Indústrias Patagonicas) was established in Río Negro Province (Argentina) on September 16, 1948, and became a leading local producer of chlorine, Polyvinyl chloride resins (PVC), and caustic soda. It relocated operations to the petrochemical center in Bahía Blanca in 1986; but an economic crisis in subsequent years forced it into government receivership in 1993. Re-privatized in 1995 to a consortium led by Dow Chemical, Indupa was acquired in 1996 by Brussels-based Solvay, which owns a 51% stake. The company, in turn, acquired Solvay do Brasil and its Santo André facility (opened in 1941) in 1998.

In 2013 Solvay accepted to sell Solvay Indupa for Brazilian giant petrochemical company Braskem, the largest petrochemical company in Latin America, but this sale was refused by the Brazilian competition authority. In 2016, Unipar Carbocloro purchased 70.59% of the company, while committing to a Public takeover bid on the remainder of the stock.

Dioxin Contamination

In 1998 Indupa Solvay was involved in a European dioxin crisis as it delivered highly contaminated (20-100 times higher than normal) lime milk for the use in Brazilian citrus pulp pellets. These pellets were distributed as feed for European cattle farms. The contamination was discovered by a German monitoring program that found dioxin trends increasing in butter, milk and meat samples starting in February 1998.

Moreover, recent studies have shown that the landfill and downstream area at the Indupa Solvay plant are still highly contaminated and have most probably affected the sediments and the flood plains of the Rio Grande (Paraná River) area.

References

References

1. "Solvay takes note of Brazilian competition authority's rejection of Braskem acquisition of Solvay Indupa".
2. (11 March 2010). "La intención del pago de la deuda volvió a impulsar la suba de bonos y otra baja del riesgo país". Télam.
3. (4 June 2009). "Solvay Indupa completes $150 mln expansion". [[Reuters]].
4. "Solvay unit Indupa approves 135 mln usd investment for Brazilian vinyls plant". ABC Money.
5. (28 February 2003). "Solvay Indupa posts US$70mn 2002 profit - Argentina". Business News Americas.
6. (15 September 2008). "Solvay Indupa to start trading on Bovespa - Brazil". Business News Americas.
7. (14 December 2007). "Solvay to invest $135 mln in Brazil vinyls plant". Reuters.
8. (15 January 2007). "Filial argentina de Solvay sufre por falta de fondos". Reuters.
9. "Solvay finalise la cession de 70,59% d'Indupa au brésilien Unipar".
10. [http://www.solvayindupa.com/quemsomos/origem/0,,10362-2-0,00.htm Solvay Indupa: Origins]
11. (2 May 2016). "Unipar Carbocloro compra 70,59% do capital da Solvay Indupa por US$ 202 milhões". Dinheiro.
12. Malisch, Rainer. (May–June 2000). "Increase of the PCDD/F-contamination of milk, butter and meat samples by use of contaminated citrus pulp". Chemosphere.
13. Machado Torres, Joao Paulo. (25 July 2012). "Landfill mining from a deposit of the chlorine/organochlorine industry as source of dioxin contamination of animal feed and assessment of the responsible processes". Environmental Science and Pollution Research.