ICI: Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British chemical company, taken over by a number of chemical companies, including Huntsman Corporation, a United States-based company, and AkzoNobel, a Dutch conglomerate, two of the largest chemical producers in the world. In its heyday, ICI was the largest manufacturing company in the British Empire, and commonly regarded as a "bellwether of the British economy".[1] It produced paints and speciality products (including ingredients for foods, specialty polymers, electronic materials, fragrances and flavours). It employed around 29,000 people and had a turnover of just over £4.8 billion in 2006. The company was independent from 1926 to 2008, headquartered for most of that time in Millbank, London, and was a constituent of the FT30 Index and FTSE 100 Index. After the January 2008 change of ownership, AkzoNobel fully integrated ICI's operations within its existing organisation.
ICI Pakistan ICI Pakistan Limited (Imperial Chemical Industries) is located in Karachi, Pakistan.ICI Pakistan was acquired by AkzoNobel on January 2008. It operates as an independent business unit within AkzoNobel and as a part of its specialty chemicals portfolio, known as Chemicals Pakistan.It was set up as a public limited company in Pakistan in 1952. ICI’s presence in this part of the world, however, predates the formation of the public limited company and indeed, Pakistan itself. The Khewra Soda Ash Company, a predecessor of ICI Pakistan Limited, set up a soda ash manufacturing facility in Khewra in 1944 with a capacity of 18,000 tonnes per annum. This facility was sited next to the salt range as rock salt and limestone; two key raw materials for manufacturing Soda ash were available here in abundance. ICI Pakistan operates diverse businesses and provides services to a number of diverse industries in Pakistan. To name a few, they are Textiles, Glass, Pharmaceuticals, Agriculture and Livestock, Construction, Automobiles, Chemicals, Cement, Fertilizer, Rubber, Detergents, Footwear, Food, Beverages and Leather, with back-end relationships in twenty three countries.
Businesses:
Today ICI Pakistan’s five businesses, Polyester, Soda Ash, Paints, Life Sciences and Chemicals manufacture and sell a range of industrial and consumer products. These include Polyester Staple Fibres, POY Chips, Light and Dense Soda Ash, Sodium bicarbonate, Paints for the Decorative, Automotive, Refinish segments, for Industrial use and Projects, Specialty Chemicals, Polyurethanes, and Adhesives and arranges manufacture, on a toll basis, of Pharmaceutical and Animal Health products. It also markets Seeds and in addition is engaged in trading in various specialized chemicals for use in industries in Pakistan. In 1995 ICI Pakistan Limited set up a USD 490 million PTA manufacturing facility at Port Qasim, near Karachi, which was commissioned in 1998. In 2001, the business was demerged to form Pakistan PTA Limited, a subsidiary of ICI Plc UK. ICI Pakistan is one of the largest quoted companies on the Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad Stock Exchanges with a paid up share capital of Rs 1.39 billion. The company has around 1,294 permanent employees and the same numbers of people provide services through contractual arrangements.
Polyester
ICI Pakistan pioneered Polyester Staple Fibre (PSF) technology in Pakistan through its investment in a 12,000 tonnes per annum PSF Plant commissioned in 1982 in Sheikhupura, near Lahore. Successive expansions and de-bottlenecking in the late 1980s, major expansion in 1996 and a recent Asset Modernization and Improvement Project in 2006, have ensured ICI Pakistan is one of the leading fibre suppliers in Pakistan.[citation needed]
Soda Ash While the Soda Ash plant dates back to 1929, commercial production began in 1944. Over the years the capacity of the plant has been increased through expansion in line with market demand. The total capacity of the plant today is 350,000 tons after commissioning of the 65ktpa expansion in 2009. In 1995, the business commissioned a 10ktpa plant for the manufacture of Sodium bicarbonate, which was further expanded to 20ktpa in 2004. Sodium Bicarbonate is a byproduct of Soda Ash. Besides, the business also produces dense ash (Na2CO3.H20), which is an essential raw material for glass making. ICI Pakistan’s Soda Ash Business caters to approximately 70% of the Country’s total Soda Ash requirement. The Business mainly uses indigenous raw materials and locally made equipment. The plant is located in Khewra, near the Salt range. Limestone, Salt & Water are essential raw materials for manufacturing of Soda Ash, all of which are easily available in the area. While coke and ammonia (Other two necessary raw materials) are purchased. To cut down the cost on the purchase of coke, originally imported from Poland, Soda Ash carried out an in house initiative of installing a Coke Briquetting Plant in 2011. The total project cost was 20 Million PKR. The plant is in operation since March 2011, and has significantly contributed to the overall profits of the business. Soda Ash also has the largest lime kiln in Pakistan that can burn about 1200 tons of Limestone in a day. Recent crisis of natural gas in the country has also affected the performance of Soda Ash. Unavailability of gas only allowed the business to run at 72 % of the maximum capacity in 2011. To cater for this, a coal-fired boiler project is underway, that is expected to be completed by June 2013. This will include two 45 tpd boilers that will use coal as fuel and a 3 MW steam turbine to generate electricity for the unit to run. Studies for this project are underway
Paints
The Paints Business in Pakistan operates in the Decorative, Industry and the Refinish segments. With the support of the International Business, the Business has commenced opening up new markets. Exports to Afghanistan have entered the fifth year; a position in the Iran OEM market with a view to developing a full-scale operation for all the three Businesses and exports of Refinish products into the Middle East market are all progressing well.
Life Sciences The Life Sciences Business consists of three divisions; Pharmaceuticals, Animal health and Seeds. The Pharmaceutical division having attained leadership positions in the Cardiovascular and Oncology Market has entered into the lucrative Anti-Infectives Segment. Animal Health Division being dominant in the livestock segment with an established brand equity, has plans in place to enter and become a major player in the Poultry segment. The Seeds Division having the distinction of being the market leader in the Sunflower market and Animal fodder markets plans to launch corn brands to tap this large market segment.
Chemicals
ICI Pakistan Chemicals Business consists of General Chemicals and Specialty Chemicals (formerly Uniqema). The General Chemicals Segment includes trading and polyurethanes and is involved in the import, manufacturing, sale and distribution of industrial chemicals. The trading segment comprises an extremely diversified portfolio of fourteen major product groupings with over 250 products/variants, including sixteen well-reputed trading partners such as National Starch & Chemicals, Huntsman Polyurethanes, Ineos Chlor, Nalco, Huntsman Tioxide, supplemented by imports of complementary product lines from companies in the USA, Europe and the Far East. This Segment markets a product range used for various applications by nearly every industry in Pakistan, prominent amongst which are power, cement, textiles, paints, pharmaceuticals, personal care, food & beverage, solvents, detergents, footwear and household appliances. The Specialty Chemicals Segment includes the manufacturing and marketing of textile auxiliaries, adhesives, paint lattices, emulsifiers, and the trading of specialized products to a wide range of industries. It has lately added a wide range of crop protection emulsifiers and is a pioneer in the local manufacturing of powder emulsifiers and its adhesives range is widely used in the construction industry. Specialty Chemicals has successfully established export business in Bahrain and Uzbekistan for its textile range, and is working towards further expanding its sales networks in the region. Corporate Social Responsibility The Company, over the years, has supported and encouraged social development initiatives, which include improving and enhancing infrastructure facilities in the health care and education sectors of the Country. The Company provides significant financial support to various institutes of excellence, all over the Country. Pursuing further the initiatives it supports the local institutions in and around Khewra, Sheikhupura, Lahore and Karachi where major operations and manufacturing sites of the Company are located.[citation needed]
Safety, Health & Environment The Company complies with National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS) at all its manufacturing sites and has a health care programme for its employees. Effluent Treatment Plants have been constructed at the Company’s Paints Plant at Ferozpur Road, Lahore and at the Specialty Chemicals Plant at West Wharf, Karachi, which ensures that all liquid and solid releases from Plant sites comply with both NEQS and with Group policy requirement. Additionally, all gaseous emissions from plant sites are also treated to ensure compliance with NEQS. Demerger Process of AkzoNobel and ICI Pakistan: The management of ICI Pakistan has decided to restructure the company into two separate entities i.e. ICI Pakistan (consisting of non-paint businesses) and Akzo Nobel Pakistan (Paint business). Post restructuring Akzo Nobel will divest its 75% holding in ICI Pakistan to prospective buyers. An abrupt jump of approx. PKR3.7bn in assets of paint business during 2010 was due to segregation of accumulated cash to the respective businesses. However this arrangement is still subject to approval of Sindh High Court. Akzo Nobel, the parent company of ICI Pakistan (75% stake) has in principle decided to streamline its Pakistan business portfolio in line with its global business portfolio. For this purpose the management of ICI Pakistan has decided to reconstitute the company into two separate entities i.e. ICI Pakistan (consisting of non-paint businesses) and Akzo Nobel Pakistan (Paint business). Post demerger, Akzo Nobel will divest its 75% holding in ICI Pakistan to prospective buyers. According to the scheme, the share capital, capital and revenue reserves, unappropriated profits and losses are to be split between the non-paints and paints businesses on the basis of split ratio of 66.5:33.5 respectively, taking net asset method as primary valuation technique. Resultantly, the existing shareholders of ICI Pakistan will get approx. 66% of ICI Pakistan (ex-paint business) and approx. 34% of newly created Akzonobel Pakistan. Net asset valuation technique is used after considering tax treatments for post demerger ICI businesses.