In a move likely aimed at raising liquidity for its increasingly international buying spree, China National Chemical Corporation (ChemChina, Beijing / China; www.chemchina.com.cn) in late January 2016 listed 50% of the shares in two of its subsidiaries – Fuzhou Bluestar Chemical and Bluestar (Tianjin) Chemical – on the Beijing Equity Exchange. The 50% stakes in the companies were reportedly listed for CNY 244m (EUR 33.8m) and CNY 141m (EUR 19.5m) respectively.

ChemChina has been very active buying up leading international names in the past few months. Aside from its purchase of Italian tyre producer Pirelli, the company in early January acquired German plastics machinery maker KraussMaffei Group (KM, Munich; www.kraussmaffei.com) – see Plasteurope.com of 11.01.2016 – and has also expressed interest in Swiss seeds and pesticide maker Syngenta. ChemChina recently appointed former Bayer MaterialScience manager Michael Koenig to head its China National Bluestar Corp subsidiary (see Plasteurope.com of 28.01.2016).