Page 138 - CW E-Magazine (18-3-2025)

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COLLABORATION

Thermax and Brazil’s OCQ setting up Joint Venture

to make acrylic resins in India

Thermax Chemical Solutions ester and alkyd resins, among others.
Pvt. Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary This step marks the beginning of our
of Pune-based engineering group, venturing into a new line of business
Thermax, and Oswaldo Cruz Química within the chemical range of solutions.”
Indústria e Comércio Ltda. (OCQ),
a Brazilian producer of resins and “We see this as a strategic step to
polymers, have agreed to establish a expand our geographic presence and
new company in India to establish a international reach in collaboration with
dedicated production facility for manu- Thermax. We recognise the challenge of
facturing acrylic resins. entering a market that Brazilian companies
have yet to explore extensively, but with
Thermax will hold a majority Thermax’s proven track record and strong
51% stake in this new company, while Commenting on the partnership, presence in the region, we are confi dent
OCQ will have a 49% share. The new Mr. Ashish Bhandari, Managing Director in seizing this opportunity and tapping
entity will be responsible for manu- and CEO, Thermax, said, “OCQ is a into the promising Asian market,” said
facturing, trading, marketing and leading company in its space, and part- Mr. Francisco Fortunato, Founding Partner
selling OCQ formulated materials nering with them will help us manu- of the OCQ Group. The Group currently
by leveraging Thermax’s existing facture and deliver high-performance operates in seven countries – Brazil,
resources, infrastructure and extensive chemicals to a wide range of industries. Argentina, Chile, the US, Russia, Italy,
customer base. To accommodate the Initially, production will focus on acry- England, and China. Thermax said the new
new operations, Thermax will adapt its lic resins – widely used in the paint, entity will strengthen its chemical port-
existing industrial plant at Jhagadia, adhesives, infrastructure, textile and folio, which currently includes ion exchange
Gujarat, and establish the fi rst produc- waterproofi ng industries. In the future, resins, water treatment chemicals, oil fi eld
tion line to manufacture acrylic resins. the plant will expand to include poly- chemicals, and construction chemicals.

PROJECT UPDATE
Grasim begins production at Mahad paints plant

Aditya Birla Group fi rm, Grasim the company said in a stock exchange
Industries, has announced the com- fi ling. Five of the company’s six green-
mencement of commercial production fi eld plants have now commenced com-
at its ‘Birla Opus’ paints plant located at mercial production.
Mahad (Maharashtra) on 4 March 2025.
Birla Opus was launched in 2024
The Mahad unit has installed capa- with Aditya Birla Group Chairman
cities for water-based paints of Kumar Mangalam Birla projecting
180-million litres per annum (mlpa), the business to achieve revenue of
distemper of 20-mlpa and solvent- Rs. 10,000-crore within the fi rst three
based paints of 30-mlpa. The company years of full-scale operations.
informed that the resin manufactur-
ing block at Mahad has not yet been With the addition of the 230-mlpa The total upfront investment for
commissioned and the resin “is being capacity at Mahad, the total installed the project is Rs. 10,000-crore. The
sourced from Birla Opus’s other plants capacity of decorative paints under the sixth plant at Kharagpur near Kolkata
to manufacture solvent based paints”. Birla Opus brand has reached 1,096-mlpa, is under construction.

138 Chemical Weekly March 18, 2025

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