* Prospective sellers of assets outnumber would-be buyers
* Site closures seem inevitable in worst-hit segments
* JVs could ease burden of cutbacks, vital investments
* Collaborative deals seen as catalyst for share movements
By Ludwig Burger
FRANKFURT, June 12 (Reuters) - European chemical companies could take the joint venture route to share the burden of plant closures and vital investments as the sector struggles to combat the impact of flagging sales.
A global economic downturn has hit demand for chemicals, forcing many companies to try and sell units or mothball capacity to ride out the crisis.
But few buyers are available for low-margin businesses, meaning that joint ventures could be the best route to consolidation, analysts said, adding that such pacts could also solve the problem of funding expansion in emerging markets.
"There is no question that at the moment there are very few natural buyers because not many companies in the sector have strong balance sheets," said Societe Generale analyst Peter Clark.
"So if private equity isn't a buyer, which it clearly isn't at the moment, there could well be collaborative deals."
Companies such as BASF, which are trying to focus on specialised compounds that command premium prices, are among those having a hard time finding buyers for businesses that are under threat from competition in low-cost countries.
The German group has been trying for almost two years to sell units that supply standard plastics used in disposable packaging and casings for appliances and electronics. It is also mulling the sale of its leather and textile chemicals business.
Swiss peer Clariant said in March it would split up its unprofitable textile, leather and paper chemicals business to facilitate an overhaul that could see asset sales.
COMBINING TO CUT OUTPUT, INVEST
Demand from industries hit hard by the downturn, such as electronics companies, carmakers and builders, has dwindled, hurting a capital-intensive sector also dragged lower by massive overhead costs.
Collaboration could help the industry tackle a capacity overhang sustained by what looks like a game of chicken, said Ekkehart Hansmeyer, who heads KPMG's chemical industry consulting business in Germany.
While those who cut back incur winding-up costs, their rivals enjoy a free ride to higher utilisation rates, prompting the entire industry to defer the inevitable.
A way out would be for chemical makers to transfer ailing businesses into joint entities which mothball loss-making plants and seek economies of scale from the remaining operations.
"Shutting down plants is immensely expensive and it also makes competitors happy," Hansmeyer said. "Joint ventures could be a solution to the necessary industry consolidation."
European chemical plants' capacity utilisation has slumped to just above 70 percent from a historic average of 82 percent, according to Cefic, an association of chemical suppliers.
Cefic said this week it was bracing for chemical output volume to drop 11 percent in Europe this year, which would be the worst slump since the start of record-keeping in 1990.
Worst-hit segments such as synthetic rubber are using as little as half of their plants' potential output and are facing plant closures, said Alexander Mueller, a Frankfurt-based managing director at investment bank Jefferies.
Well-conceived joint ventures could shore up the share price of both Clariant and BASF, said SocGen's Clark.
"On BASF, if they would pursue collaborations in the less attractive low-growth areas, that would emphasise that this company is increasingly moving downstream. Absolutely it could have some impact (on stock prices)," he said.
Many European chemical makers need to shift output to emerging markets to catch up with moves by industrial customers but few can shoulder such investments on their own.
Joint ventures could help the industry set up sites in newer markets to retain industrial customers such as textile and tyre makers which are relocating, said Jefferies' Mueller, who heads the investment bank's business with chemical companies in German-speaking countries.
"Joint venture deals could be a way to share the burden of essential investments such as shifting your asset base to Asia," he said.
(Editing by Sitaraman Shankar)