After posting roughly HKR 159m (about EUR 22m) in losses in 2009, polymer producer Dioki (Zagreb / Croatia; www.dioki.hr) managed to outdo even that result in 2010, when the company posted losses of HKR 239m (EUR 33m). The bribery charges against former majority shareholder Robert Jezic – see Plasteurope.com of 26.01.2011 – surely contributed to the drop in the company’s standing. In addition, Croatian media report that subsidiary Dina Petrokemija, which runs the group’s 70,000 t/y LDPE line in Omišalj, is in arrears with its payments.

Last week, local media report, Dioki’s management announced that it had come to a comprehensive debt payment arrangement with its main creditors, which includes several measures to stabilise the “complex situation”. Other reports indicate that Dioki would offer some assets up for sale, a move management justifies by pointing to existing plans to focus on polymer production solely. At the same time, there are rumours about a possible takeover by the Adris Group (Rovinj / Croatia; www.adris.hr). To date the group, owned by Croatian tycoon Ante Vlahovic, is engaged solely in the tobacco and tourism industries, not petrochemicals.

According to own statements, Dioki commands 90,000 t/y of ethylene, 120,000 t/y of LDPE (a 20,000 t/y expansion is currently in the works), 50,000 t/y of PS and 15,000 t/y of EPS. In addition, the group has capacity to produce some 200,000 t/y of VCM on the island of Krk, which is scheduled to become home to a new 120,000 t/y PVC plant due to start up in 2012. Whether the facility will be commissioned as planned still remains to be seen.