Europe’s newest PVC producer Vynova Group (www.vynova-group.com) opened for business on 1 August. The company, now third largest in European PVC production behind Inovyn (London / UK; www.inovyn.com), the joint venture of Ineos and Solvay, and Kem One (Lyon / France; www.kemone.com), has output capability of 820,000 t/y, according to Plasteurope.com's Polyglobe capacity database (www.polyglobe.net). Vynova has 6,000 employees and posts annual sales of more than EUR 850m. It was pieced together by International Chemical Investors Group (ICIG, Luxembourg and Frankfurt / Germany; www.ic-investors.com) from the assets divested by Ineos and Solvay to win EU approval for Inovyn – see Plasteurope.com of 09.07.2015.

Alongside its three S-PVC plants in Germany, The Netherlands and France, Vynova operates VCM and EDC production facilities in Germany, Belgium and the UK. The new company’s membrane electrolysis unit is a joint venture with Inovyn. The acquired assets will form a new Chlorvinyls platform within ICIG, complementing other chemical businesses owned by the investors. A separate distribution firm, Vynova International, has been established to market the PVC products.

Vynova’s management team is headed by Stefan Sommer, who began his career at the former German chemicals and plastics producer Hoechst and also served in senior management positions at consultants Arthur D. Little, Ticona, DSM China and ASK Chemicals. Luc Leunis, Peter Prinz and Johan van Den Broeck have been named executive vice presidents, with Hans Mattheeuws and Gerold Jelschen serving as senior vice presidents.