Glass raw material supplier WE Soda plans to float on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).
It has announced its plans for an initial public offering (IPO) and to trade on the main market of the LSE.
The company supplies soda ash to the global glass industry and is owned by Turkish conglomerate Ciner Group.
WE Soda is the world’s largest producer of natural soda ash, based on the group’s own estimates and Advancy research and analysis.
In the year ended 31 December 2022 it produced 5.0 million metric tonnes of product, comprising approximately 4.6 million mt of soda ash (95%) and 0.4 million mt of sodium bicarbonate (5%).
From almost 65 million mt of total global demand in 2022, the annual demand for soda ash globally is forecast by Advancy to grow by a further 16 million mt per annum reaching almost 81 million mtpa by 2030.
WE Soda currently operates two production facilities located near Ankara in Turkey, known as Eti Soda and Kazan Soda, which in 2022 produced 2.0 million mt and 3.0 million mt, respectively, of soda ash and sodium bicarbonate, combined.
The group also has a non-controlling approximately 20% interest in the Sisecam Wyoming production facility in the US, operated by Sisecam Chemicals USA.
WE Soda aims to more than double total production from 5 million mtpa to 11 million mtpa by 2030, of which more than 90% will be soda ash, by investing approximately $5.0 billion into three major projects, including two greenfield projects located in Wyoming, US, and at its Kazan Soda facility in Turkey.
The Ciner Group operates the Park Cam glass facility in Turkey and has proposed to build new glass manufacturing sites in UK and Belgium.
Alasdair Warren, CEO of WE Soda, said: “WE Soda is an extraordinary business supplying essential products to support the energy transition.
"Today, it is the world’s largest producer of natural soda ash and one of the lowest cost producers of soda ash globally, having developed from a visionary idea to become a global leader in less than 20 years, not only in terms of scale but also in terms of sustainability.
“Soda ash is an essential component in a wide variety of industrial processes with no viable substitute. It is a critical ingredient in the manufacture of products which play a vital role in everyday modern life, including architectural flat glass, glass bottles, PV glass for solar panels, water and flue gas treatments, powdered detergents and EV batteries.
“Today, we produce five million metric tonnes of soda ash and sodium bicarbonate every year which we sell into a large, global market characterised by long-term structural, non-cyclical growth.”
