Summary: On 29 Aug., Nantong Jiangshan made two important announcements—it has planned to acquire 67% of equity interests of Nantong Uniphos and launch a 100,000 t/a pesticide formulation intelligence transformation project. For the new project, Nantong Jiangshan proposes to increase production capacity for glyphosate and diazinon formulations, as well as a series of pesticide formulations. Forms of its formulation products will be enriched, covering GR, CS, EW, ME, SC, etc.

On 29 Aug., Nantong Jiangshan Agrochemical & Chemicals Co., Ltd. (Nantong Jiangshan) released two important announcements, one concerning equity acquisition and the other project investment.

The company plans to acquire 67% of equity interests of Nantong Uniphos Chemicals Co., Ltd. (Nantong Uniphos) from Shanghai Wujin Fine Chemical Co., Ltd., Changzhou Wujin Water Quality Stabilizer Factory Co., Ltd. and Jiangyin Shuangma Chemical Co., Ltd. at USD24.51 million (RMB175.93 million). According to Nantong Jiangshan, the deal could help extend its industrial chain to cover water treatment agent, a downstream sector of phosphorus-based intermediates such as phosphorus trichloride, dimethyl phosphite and phosphorous acid; with this move, it could improve its business structure, and expand the scale and share of its new material business. This planned acquisition is thus in line with the company's development plan for the 14th Five-Year Period and the directions in future development—towards industries "three plus one" (pesticides, new materials, pesticide formulation, plus basic chemicals).

Nantong Uniphos is a private enterprise and a major water treatment agent producer in China. There exist differences in corporate culture and mode of management between Nantong Uniphos and Nantong Jiangshan. Once the acquisition is completed, some key personnel may leave Nantong Uniphos, which would have negative effects on Nantong Jiangshan's business performance. Yet Nantong Jiangshan believes that in general, no big influences would be exerted on its financial status and operation, as it has already come up with some countermeasures for the potential risks in the integration and the risks of losing key personnel.

Nantong Jiangshan also announced that it would invest in a 100,000 t/a pesticide formulation intelligence transformation project, so as to expand its share in pesticide formulation market, increase profitability in this business, and meet the needs for the development of high quality formulations. Main reasons for launching the project include:

• As to its pesticide business, currently, glyphosate business mainly relies on the sale of TC products, and sales of glyphosate formulations in granular forms and of other forms are quite insignificant. Plus, production capacity for diazinon formulations is too small to have economies of scale. Moreover, its exiting formulations are of rather traditional forms; enrichment of product variety and product quality improvement are much in need. After the project is completed, Nantong Jiangshan could produce products in forms including GR, CS, EW, ME and SC, have larger capacity for glyphosate in granular forms and diazinon formulations, and have broader product series to offer, such as dichlorvos SL.
• As to production technology, through intelligence transformation, full process automation can be achieved in the subpackaging of formulation products, pass yield increased, costs of production and storage reduced, and storage capacity better utilised.

 

Days before, on 18 Aug., Nantong Jiangshan announced that a novel green herbicide TC and formulation project would be launched by its wholly-owned subsidiary Jiangshan (Yichang) Crop Technology Co., Ltd. in the Yaojiagang Chemical Park, Zhijiang City, Yichang City, Hubei Province, with an investment of USD110.74 million (RMB794.98 million). The project will construct 500 t/a benmicaozuo (product code: JS-T205) line, formulation lines and supporting facilities. Nantong Jiangshan has obtained the right to an exclusive licence concerning global patents for benmicaozuo, and the patents are protected until 15 Dec., 2034. Patents for benmicaozuo TC have so far been granted in China, Argentina, Australia, Canada, the US and Brazil.