Manali Petrochemicals to invest $35 million in Singapore subsidiary

Manali Petrochemicals Limited (MPL) will invest an additional $35 million in its Singapore subsidiary AMCHEM Speciality Chemicals for potential overseas acquisitions, said the company in a statement.

The Chennai-based petrochemical manufacturer said in a regulatory filing that the investment would be in one or more tranches and details will be furnished in due course.

“AMCHEM Singapore continues to explore further opportunities for acquisition of overseas facilities for enhancing MPL’s global presence, and also has interests in trading, transaction facilitations, business and project consultancy,” MPL said in its annual report.

Set up in 2015-16 to expand Manali Petrochemicals’ global footprint, AMCHEM Speciality Chemicals, Singapore holds the foreign assets of the parent company. The subsidiary posted a total income of $20.22 million and a profit of $0.43 million in FY22.

Singapore’s petrochemical exports fell by 18.4% from a year earlier to Singapore dollar (S$) 1.2bn in October, weighing on overall non-oil domestic exports (NODX), official data showed in mid-November.

The country’s overall NODX fell by 5.6% from a year earlier to S$15.4bn in October, reversing the 3.1% expansion in September, Enterprise Singapore data showed. Non-electronic NODX, which includes pharmaceuticals and petrochemicals, fell by 4.5% year on year in October, reversing the 7.6% expansion in September.

Non-electronic NODX to China fell by 34.8% year on year in October, lower on a 21.9% drop in petrochemical shipments.

Petrochemical shipments to the EU dived by 66% year on year in October, with overall non-electronic NODX fell by 24.5%.