MOL completes acquisition of German recycled plastic compounder

Hungarian energy company MOL Group has completed the acquisition of German recycled plastic compounder Aurora, as part of a long-term strategy to expands its petrochemicals portfolio and strengthen its presence in recyclate-based compounds for the automotive market.
 
The transaction, the terms of which were not disclosed, was completed 31 Oct, MOL announced 11 Nov.
 
Already a leading virgin polymer supplier, MOL Group said the acquisition was made to extend its petrochemical value chain towards higher added-value products.
 
With production plants close to automotive manufacturing and plastics conversion clusters in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, Aurora is a medium-size company largely manufacturing engineering plastics and polypropylene recyclate-based compounds. 
 
Headquartered in Neuenstein, an hour to the north of Stuttgart, Aurora has established a lean closed loop concept which includes collection, regrinding and compounding of post-industrial plastic waste.
 
The company, according to MOL, upgrades the properties of the recycled material into an enhanced plastic that suits the requirements of the automotive industry.
 
The move is a significant milestone in MOL’s 2030 strategy, which aims to make the company the leading chemical player in central east Europe (CEE).
 
“As we strive to strengthen MOL Group’s presence as an automotive supplier, we recognised compounding as a key activity which we want to integrate in our business portfolio,” said Ferenc Horváth, executive vice president of MOL Group downstream.
 
Unveiled in 2017, MOL’s 2030 strategy envisages a $4.5bn investment by the group in expanding its petrochemicals value chain over the next decade.
 
Compounding and recycling are among the key areas defined in MOL’s 2030 strategy.
 
As part of the strategy, the group signed a collaboration agreement with APK AG in 2018 to advance the German company's plastics Newcycling technology, a solvent-based physical recycling process that enables the different polymer types in multi-layer plastics and mixed plastic waste to be separated.