Braskem Announces Distribution Partnership with Ravago Group's Pegasus Polymers

Pegasus Polymers will be an official distributor for Braskem's UTEC UHMWPE in China

PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 11, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Braskem (BM&FBOVESPA: BRKM3, BRKM5 and BRKM6; NYSE: BAK; LATIBEX: XBRK), the largest thermoplastics resins producer in the Americas, today announces its new partnership with Pegasus Polymers to distribute UTEC Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE) in China. Braskem sells high performance UHMWPE under the trade name UTEC, developed and produced through Braskem's proprietary technologies. Pegasus Polymers has sales offices and distribution centers across China and is a division of the Ravago Group, the number one service provider in the global market for plastics, rubber and chemicals.

"Our partnership with Pegasus Polymers confirms our commitment to the global UHMWPE market. We are excited to continue strengthening and growing our business in China, further leveraging our development of new applications as well as our plans to expand to serve new industries with our proprietary UTEC offerings. Ravago has been a great partner for Braskem around the world and our announcement today with Pegasus represents an expansion of this successful relationship," said Christopher Gee, Braskem Global Business Director for UTEC.

The Chinese market has a CAGR of 10.74% because of its strong demand for UHMWPE in key markets like battery separators, pipe, and fiber. Pegasus Polymers maintains sales offices in Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Fujian, Shanghai, Suzhou, Xi'an, Tianjin and Changchun as well as distribution and warehouse facilities in Guangzhou, Xiamen, Shanghai, Ningbo, Qingdao and Tianjin.

"We are proud to be the official distributor for Braskem's UTEC® products in Greater China. With Pegasus's sales network, deep industrial know-how in UHMWPE and UTEC® high quality product, we believe we bring high value added solutions to the market," stated Johnson Huang, Greater China Commercial Director for Pegasus.

Earlier this year, Braskem started operations at its new UTEC plant in La Porte, Texas complementing Braskem's global production capabilities at its UTEC plant in Camacari, Brazil. In addition, the company enhanced its research and development capabilities for UTEC during 2016 at the company's Innovation and Technology Center in Pittsburgh, Pa. These capabilities enable Braskem to expand its technical leadership in UHMWPE by providing instrumentation for testing, application development, and new product research.

Braskem has been researching opportunities to expand its presence in the UHMWPE market to benefit its current and future clients. The company has committed to developing products as well as enhancing existing products for use in new addressable markets such as UTEC UHMWPE fibers, pipe, battery separators, and medical applications, among others. Since the startup of the new UTEC production facility in Texas, two new products have been developed and are currently in the testing phase for potential commercialization.

UTEC is an engineered polymer with excellent mechanical properties, such as high abrasion resistance, impact strength and low coefficient of friction. It is a self-lubricating, high-strength, lightweight machinable product used for semi-finished goods.  UTEC is eight times lighter than steel and lasts ten times longer than HDPE. The product is used in a vast array of applications in the following industries: automotive and transportation, electronics, fibers and textiles, industrial and heavy equipment, material handling, oil and gas, pipe and mining, porous plastics, and recreation and consumer. For information regarding Braskem's UTEC UHMWPE sales in China, please contact Pegasus Polymers at +86 135 3341 4707 or email at liz.tong@pegasuspolymers.com.cn.

For additional information on Braskem's UTEC UHMWPE engineered polymer, product benefits and applications, please visit www.braskem.com/utec.

ABOUT BRASKEM
Braskem is one of the world's leading plastics and chemical companies with 41 industrial plants in Brazil, the United States, Germany and Mexico.

Braskem is the largest producer of thermoplastic resins in the Americas and the leading producer of biopolymers in the world, creating more environmental-friendly, intelligent and sustainable solutions through chemicals and plastics. Known for innovative solutions such as I'm green Polyethylene™ made from renewable sugarcane and UTEC^®, the company's own trademarked Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene for high-performance applications, Braskem's products and technologies enable the automotive, packaging, healthcare, and construction industries to produce goods that enhance quality of life for people around the world.

Braskem America is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Braskem S.A. headquartered in Philadelphia. The company is the leading producer of polypropylene in the United States, with five production plants located in Texas, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and a Technology and Innovation Center in Pittsburgh. For more information, visit www.braskem.com.

ABOUT PEGASUS POLYMERS
The Ravago Group is a global leader in the distribution, resale and compounding of commodity, engineering and specialty plastic and rubber polymers.

In Asia, Ravago has a distribution network of over 15 offices spread across 8 locations. Ravago Asia focuses on offering a 'global reach with local feel' full service model, with a team of reliable and dedicated sales offering high value added services and diversified product offering, to a variety of end-use markets

Pegasus Polymers became part of the Ravago Group in 2006, and has been operating in Asia as early as 1990. Through the years, Pegasus's plastic and rubber distribution network has grown significantly with 8 locations across China today. Pegasus provides a wide product portfolio of commodity, engineering and high performance plastics for all industry segments.

Pegasus operates under two legal entities. Pegasus Petrochemical Asia Limited (Hongkong) and Pegasus Trading (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (China) have 6 warehousing locations and are able to provide professional technical services to UHMWPE customers in the rod & sheet, pipe, fibers, filtration and battery separators industry.

SOURCE Braskem