With the support of technology transferred from Solvay, Soligran will operate in two plants to serve the large regional needs. The plants are located  in Tver, which lies 170 km north of Moscow, and in Volgograd, where Nikos is already operating integrated vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) and PVC production units.  Soligran is expected to set up a total annual production capacity of more than 40.000 tons of PVC compounds within the next two years.

Solvay and Nikos are creating Soligran in the framework of a rapidly expanding market for PVC compounds in Russia. Producing locally, the joint venture will be able to supply fast-growing local processors with a prime-rate product at competitive prices, which will enable them to manufacture and to sell superior quality goods to the cabling and building industries, among others.

Nikos is a diversified financial and industrial group, which evolved from a research and production cooperative created in 1990 by a team of scientists from Moscow University’s Physics Faculty.   It had total sales of some USD 150 million in 2001 and USD 200 million in 2002, with key assets in the chemical industry in Volgograd, as well as in the banking and financial sector.

Solvay is an international chemical and pharmaceutical Group with headquarters in Brussels.  It employs more than 30,000 people in 50 countries.  In 2002 its consolidated sales amounted to EUR 7.9 billion, generated by its four sectors of activity: Chemicals, Plastics, Processing and Pharmaceuticals. Solvay is listed in the Euronext 100 index of top European companies.  For further information please consult: www.solvay.com.

Notes to the editor:

• PVC Compounds are specialty preparations ready for use in plastics processing machines. Depending on the intended use, stabilizers, fillers, pigments, reinforcing agents, etc. can be added to the original PVC resin.
• Solvay’s Performance Compounds activities comprise the development and production of PVC and polyolefins compounds in 12 locations worldwide and generate a total annual turnover of approximately EUR 500 million. Solvay is among the leaders in all of the markets concerned – for instance, the Group holds a global leadership position for PVC compounds and is the largest North American supplier of thermoplastic olefin (TPO) compounds for the automotive industry. These tailor-made specialties can be processed into a variety of light-weight applications as substitutes for metal parts, with essential fire-retardant and colour-matching properties, among others. Solvay’s performance compounds are also developed to meet the requirements of demanding customers in the building, piping and cabling sectors.
• Solvay launched a first soda ash plant in Russia in the 1880s – in Berezniki. The Group rapidly built up a strong presence in Russia and Ukraine, where it operated chemical plants as well as coal mines. But the Group lost its industrial sites in Russia as a consequence of the Revolution in 1917. By that time, the Group owned in the Russian Empire two soda ash factories: in Berezniki and Lisichansk – and a mine in the Donetzk coalfield.
   
  In August 1997, Solvay returned to the Russian Federation with the opening of a representation office in Moscow.
   
  Solvay’s activities in Russia are now distinguished by a rapid expansion, as highlighted by the Group’s Pharmaceuticals Sector, whose sales in the Russian Federation surged 85% to EUR 24.5 million in 2002. In its sector, Solvay Pharmaceuticals has been the fastest growing company in Russia for the past three years, with more than 20 registered products, and 150 employees today. Six more products are currently undergoing phase III clinical trials to fuel future growth.