Rhodia (company)

After its breakaway from Rhône-Poulenc, Rhodia had to cope with the repercussions of soil pollution and financial liabilities. Prominent figures, such as Thierry Breton and the Swiss banker Édouard Stern, were involved in trying to work out solutions. The group's balance sheet-based structure remained fragile due to negative equity. On December 31, 1999, Rhodia's debt inherited from the split with Rhône-Poulenc amounted to €1,540 million.[19] In an attempt to solve the group's debt problem, management renegotiated a debt estimated at about €1 billion in 2010 (Rhodia's lowest debt level since the group was created ).[15] Declared tangible investments in 2009 totaled €167 million, compared with €241 million in 2008.[20]

In 2003, Rhodia set up a department dedicated to sustainable development.[21] In 2007, it rolled out the "Rhodia Way",[22] the group's reference framework of responsibilities toward stakeholders. Group employees can use this reference system to self-assess the performance of their entity in terms of social and environmental responsibility, with the goal of encouraging more responsible practices.[23]

Consumer Chemicals is made up of three business units: Novecare, Coatis and Aroma Performance, which mainly service the consumer markets. In 2010, Consumer Chemicals’ posted revenues of €1,883 million, representing 36% of the Rhodia Group's revenue.22Breakdown of revenue by market sector in 2010.[15]

• <15% oil and gas,
• >10% agrochemicals,
• about 35% consumer goods,
• about 25% manufacturing and processing,
• about 15% construction and coatings.

Novecare supplies high-performance chemicals to industries in the cosmetics, detergents, agrochemicals, coatings, oilfield and industrial applications sectors. The company has 15 production plants worldwide. Novecare acquired the activities of the US company McIntyre, followed by the activities of Feixiang, China's leading producer of amines and surfactants in 2010. Consequently, Rhodia is now the leading producer of specialized surfactants in Asia.[13] With a turnover of €1,089 million in 2010, Novecare accounts for 58% of Consumer Chemicals’ revenue.[15]

Coatis principally supplies the paint, surface coatings, automotive, wood and construction industries with phenol, phenol derivatives and oxygenated solvents. The company has one production plant in Brazil and three technical development centers. With a turnover of €449 million in 2010, Coatis represents 24% of Consumer Chemicals’ revenue.[15]

As the world's leading producer of diphenols,[24] Aroma Performance supplies aromas and fragrances. Key products include vanillin and ethylvanillin, but also hydroquinone or catechol. Aroma Performance is active worldwide on markets in Europe, Asia, South America and North America. The company has five manufacturing plants worldwide. With a turnover of €345 million, Aroma Performance accounts for 18% of Consumer Chemicals revenue.[15]

Advanced Materials services high-performance industries, including low energy-consumption tires, automotive catalysis and low-consumption lighting. Advanced Materials includes the Silica and Rare Earth Systems business units. In 2010 Advanced Materials posted turnover of €539 million, representing 10% of the Rhodia Group's revenue.[15] Breakdown of revenue by market sector in 2010:

• <15% consumer goods
• 5% animal feed
• >60% automotive
• about 20% electronics.

As the world's leading producer of highly dispersible silica, Silica services, first and foremost, the automotive industry in its quest to develop solutions that reduce energy consumption. Silica produces amorphous precipitated silica. The silica is made from sodium silicate, which is in turn the fusion of sand and sodium carbonate at very high temperatures. Formed by a reaction with sulfuric acid, the silica is then filtered, washed and dried. Silica's products are produced in eight manufacturing plants worldwide. With turnover of €313 million in 2010, Silica accounts for 58% of Advanced Materials’ revenue.[15]

Rare Earth Systems supports the automotive, lighting and electronic industries in their development of solutions that produce fewer emissions, consume less energy and offer improved performance. The company separates rare earths in a number of purification steps, to produce high added-value formulations that meet the needs of the automotive, lighting and electronics industries. Rare Earth Systems has six production plants worldwide. With turnover of €226 million in 2010, Rare Earth Systems represents 42% of Advanced Materials’ revenue.[15]

Polyamide Materials groups together the polyamide chain of the Polyamide & Intermediates, Engineering Plastics and Fibras business units and develops solutions for sustainable mobility. The automotive industry is one of their largest markets. With turnover of €1,701 million in 2010, Polyamide Materials represents 33% of the Rhodia Group's revenue.[15] Breakdown of revenue by market sector:

• <10% construction
• >10% manufacturing and process
• about 40% automotive
• about 30% consumer goods
• about 10% electrical and electronics.

Polyamide & Intermediates produces polyamide 6.6 and intermediates based on adipic acid for the automotive industry, sports apparel, leisure activities, construction and electrical and electronic components. The entity covers the complete polyamide chain, from the production of intermediates and polymers to the development of high added-value technical plastics.[25] Polyamide & Intermediates has seven production plants and two technical development centers worldwide.[15]

Engineering Plastics develops, produces and markets plastics under the Technyl brand. The plastics are supplied to the plastics industry in the shape of pellets. They are then transformed by injection, extrusion or blow molding techniques to service industries, including automotive, electrical or electronic components, industrial equipment, construction, sports and leisure. The company has six industrial facilities and four technical development centers worldwide. On April 13, 2011, Engineering Plastics finalized the acquisition of the engineering plastics activity of the Indian company PI Industries Ltd (PIIL), following the approval of the Indian authorities.[26]

Fibras develops, produces and markets textile yarn, industrial yarn and short fibers based on polyamide 66. The main markets for textile yarns include lingerie, sports and beach wear and fashion wear. The company has two production plants and one development center in Brazil.

Acetow & Eco Services is active on the energy and consumer goods markets. The branch includes the Acetow and Eco Services business units. With turnover of €790 million in 2010, Acetow & Eco Services accounts for 15% of the Rhodia Group's revenue. Breakdown of revenue by market sector: about 65% consumer goods, about 20% energy and 15% others.[15]

Acetow is the third largest producer of industrial textiles made of cellulose acetate particles.[27] Its main markets are in Europe, the CIS, Asia and Latin America. Acetow is the world's third largest producer of cellulose acetate[28] for cigarette filters, supplying about 18% of the worldwide market. The company has five production plants worldwide. With turnover of €539 million in 2010, Acetow represents 68% of the Acetow & Eco Services combined revenue.[15]

Eco Services is a service company that regenerates sulfuric acid [29] for the chemical industry and oil refineries in North America. Sulfuric acid is used as a catalyst in the production of alkylate, one of the fundamental components of high-octane index gasoline. The Eco Services network is made up of eight production units on seven different sites in California, Texas, Louisiana and Indiana. Two of them also provide chemical waste treatment services.

In 2010, Eco Services posted turnover of €251 million, which accounts for 32% of the Acetow & Eco Services activities’ revenue.[15]

Energy Services is responsible for energy supplies and the management of Rhodia's projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Energy management embraces the purchasing, production and sale of energy. In the field of purchasing, mainly of gas and electricity, Energy Services managed €630 million of energy purchases in 2009,68% of which was for Rhodia's own needs, while the remaining 32% was for third parties, notably for the Group's partners in its joint ventures.[30] In France, Rhodia is the second biggest industrial buyer of gas and one of the top ten purchasers of electricity.[31] Energy Services has invested in biogas technology by acquiring the Econcern group's share of six biogas production pilots in China and Vietnam. With revenues of €203 million in 2010, Energy Services represents 4% of the Rhodia Group's turnover and operates four industrial plants in Brazil, China, France and Vietnam.[15] In 2010, Rhodia Energy Services developed its "Climate Care" solutions for the production of energy from renewable biological materials. Two biogas projects in China, Vietnam and the partnership between the private company Paraiso and Eco Services in Brazil have provided an opportunity to develop a biomass project based on bagasse.[32]

Rhodia has 22 production sites in Europe, including 10 in France. The Rhodia Group is present in Germany (Freiburg), Italy (Ospiate), Poland, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) (Sertow LLC), Spain and the United Kingdom.[33]

According to ANDRA, the French agency for waste management,[34] until July 1994, Electronics and Catalysis (now Rhodia Rare Earth Systems) used very slightly radioactive monazite as an ore, producing radium-bearing waste, which was initially stored at ANDRA's La Manche center until 1991, then in the French atomic energy commission's Cadarache facility.[35] The treatment of the slightly radioactive monazite produced 8,023 tons, according to ANDRA [34] ), of slightly radioactive solid residue up until 1994. According to ANDRA, in 2007, this residue contained 2,000 tons of uranium and 2.6 tons of toxic lead. The plant is subject to ICPE[36] environmental surveillance. A project to launch a recycling plant for the rare earth contained in used lightbulbs is being looked into.[37]

Rhodia currently includes a Rhodia-Asia-Pacific zone (CIS, Middle East and Africa), managed by Michel Ybert, with an operational head office in Shanghai. This zone has 21 production sites [38] and accounted for 29% of Rhodia's revenues in 2010. The Asia-Pacific support functions – finance, HR, purchasing and IT –are based in Singapore. The Asia Pacific zone includes production activities in China, Japan, Thailand, India and Indonesia, plus commercial activities in China, Japan and Korea.[38]

The Rhodia Group has three production sites in Brazil and one in Venezuela.[39]

The Rhodia Group has 18 sites spread across the United States.[40]

Located on the banks of the Deûle canal, near Lille in Northern France, the ICPE chemical works was founded by Frédéric Kuhlmann, who started off with a small two hectare chemical factory that he bought in 1847. The factory then belonged to the Rhône-Poulenc Chemicals group, which became Rhodia. During a working lifetime of 150 years, the site grew from two to 33 hectares, in the neighbourhoods of La Madeleine, Saint-André-lez-Lille and Marquette-lez-Lille.[41]

Between 1961 and 2001, the site produced highly toxic Toluene diisocyanate (TDI),[42] which is one of the basic components used to produce polyurethane foam. Until December 2005, the tar produced by the synthesis of the TDI was incinerated on-site.

The group abandoned the site, and the last remaining remnants – the two 80-meter high smoke stacks built in 1929 and 1933 – were demolished. Until 2006, a store, a plant and a backup store of oleum remained on the site[41] 3,000 m³ of earth from the old branch railway were stored on the site and part of the plot was bought by the FICHAUX coffee roasting company.

Various studies, supervised by the French regional agency for industry and research, DRIRE, revealed serious pollution by heavy metals (zinc, copper and lead) almost everywhere on the site, plus mercury and cadmium in one area and nitrates, sulfates, ammonium and arsenic by the Deûle canal.[43] Certain pollutants had percolated into the soil and polluted the surface groundwater: potassium, sulfates, nitrates, nitrites, chlorides, ammonium and sodium, and locally, zinc and cadmium, to depths of up to 2 m in the so-called ANS sector, plus arsenic under the AS/PS sector and manganese under the GMG sector.[43] This groundwater rose when the industrial pumps were stopped and flooded the basements in nearby houses, requiring permanent pumping in order to drain the subsoil. Severe pollution by arsenic was discovered up to depths of 5 meters in the AS/PS sector, plus mercury in the northeast half of this same sector.[43] The chalk layer under the site was contaminated by sulfates.[43] For these reasons, the local authorities deemed that the site was compatible with industrial usage, but with restrictions to be applied on a case-by-case basis with the potential buyers of the various parts of the site, on a long-term and mandatory basis for third parties through publication in the land registry. The Lille city authorities considered locating a purification plant on the site. A number of projects for the industrial, urban or administrative use of the site are in progress.[44] The position of the site in an area of designated as “green belt” on the banks of the Deûle, the pollution and its highly artificial character make it an important factor in the ecological fragmentation of the regional "blue infrastructure".

The Rhodia Board of Directors currently has 11 members. The articles of association require that no less than three and no more than 18 members sit on the board. Since 2005, members have been appointed for a period of four years. The regulations of the board of directors stipulate that non-executive members can remain on the board for a maximum of 12 years. Renewals are staggered over two consecutive years.[15]

On November 31, the members of the board of directors were:[45]

On November 31, 2010, the members of the executive committee were:[15]

• Gilles Auffret, chief executive officer
• Pascal Bouchiat, group executive vice-president and chief financial officer
• Pascal Juery, group executive vice-president
• Jean-Pierre Labroue, general counsel and corporate secretary

• 1998 to 2003 : Jean-Pierre Tirouflet, chairman and chief executive officer [46]
• 2003 to 2004 : Chairmanship vacant, Yves-René Nanot, vice-chairman [47]
• 2004 to 2008 : Yves-René Nanot, chairman [47]
• 2008 to 2011 : Jean-Pierre Clamadieu, chairman and chief executive officer.[48]
• Since 2011 : Gilles Auffret, chief executive officer

Since the successful tender offer completed in 2011, Rhodia is now part of the Solvay group.