Braskem assets in the United States are part of the company’s transformation strategy to improve its profitability in a global petrochemical market pressured by over-capacity, the company’s executive president Roberto Ramos said on Thursday.
“The maintenance of plants in the US is of fundamental importance because there are two of our top three laboratories … We have no intention to get rid of polypropylene plants in the US,” said the executive.
Ramos answered questions from analysts gathered at a conference on the results of the second quarter of Braskem. At the event, reports published in the media were mentioned on Thursday that they claim that Braskem put assets in the US for sale amid concerns about the company’s financial leverage level and proximity to debt salaries by 2028.
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“I’m not a fan of asset sales to repay debt,” said the executive.
Braskem chief financial officer Felipe Jens mentioned that Braskem is still focused on its transformation plan and that laboratories in the US are important for the company’s strategy to change gas naphtha consumption and bet more on “green” chemical production, derived from renewable sources such as sugar cane and corn.
“Laboratories in the US are of utmost importance and therefore adherent to our future. The assets themselves are important, have had major ebitda generation cycles, should go back in the future, and the possibilities will always evaluate as long as it does not deviate from our transformation plan,” Jens said, citing “eventual total or partial monetizations,” but without giving details.
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According to Ramos, concerns about the eventual search for Braskem for a debt reperfilation “make no sense.”
“This (debt salaries) is resolved by increasing EBITDA. Braskem’s problem is not the size of the debt,” said the executive.
“We have no salaries in the short term (…) in 2028, Braskem will be at a much higher level of EBITDA than we are today. This (reperfilation) is coming with medicine for a wrong diagnosis,” he added.
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Braskem ended the second quarter with a dollar leverage of 10.59 times, compared to 7.98 times at the end of March and 6.79 times at the end of the first half of 2024.
Corporate gross debt ended the quarter by about US $ 8.5 billion, with an average term of 9 years and 68% of salaries from 2030. At the end of June, the cash position, excluding the Mexican Operation Braskem Idesa, was $ 1.7 billion, without considering a $ 1 billion revolving line available until December 2026, according to company data.
