Following satisfaction of customary transaction approvals, MOL Group (Budapest, Hungary; www.molgroup.info) announced that effective 31 October 2019, it has acquired 100% shareholding in Aurora, a German plastic compounder company. As a result of the acquisition, MOL Group is strengthening its position in recycled, sustainable compounding segment and in the automotive supplier industry.
MOL Group is a well-established virgin polymer supplier, continuously looking for opportunities to extend its petrochemical value chain towards higher added-value products. To reach this goal, MOL aims to widen the synergies with its current polymers product portfolio via both organic and inorganic developments, to gain expertise and high-end capabilities in both virgin-based and recycled plastic compounding. With the acquisition of Aurora, MOL Group is further expanding its product portfolio with Aurora’s excellence in engineering plastics and polypropylene recyclate-based compounds.
Aurora complements MOL Group’s current petrochemical portfolio and contributes to its sustainability objectives. Aurora, with production plants located nearby automotive manufacturing and plastics conversion clusters in Baden-Württemberg, Germany has a unique and lean closed-loop business model. Aurora collects the industrial plastic waste, recycles it and then upgrades the properties of the material into an enhanced plastic that suits the requirements of the customers in the car manufacturing industry.
With Aurora in the portfolio MOL Group can increase its footprint in the automotive, a strategic segment for MOL, while addressing the increasing needs of its customers towards more sustainable products.
“The recyclate-based products of Aurora greatly complement our current product line, underlining our increasing efforts towards sustainable development. As we strive to strengthen MOL Group’s presence as an automotive supplier, we recognized compounding as a key activity which we want to integrate in our business portfolio,” said Ferenc Horváth, Executive Vice President of MOL Group Downstream.
Leading ESG (environmental, social and governance) rating agencies, including Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (where MOL is the only emerging European member), MSCI and Sustainalytics, have confirmed MOL’s efforts in the area of sustainability and the transition to a low-carbon economy.