Verified Sep 2026
Thermal & Fluid Systems
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Mexico City, Mexico
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Since 1953
Orbia Advance Corporation, formerly Mexichem, is a Mexico City based materials and specialty chemicals group listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV: ORBIA). It runs five business groups: Polymer Solutions (Vestolit, Alphagary), Building and Infrastructure (Wavin), Precision Agriculture (Netafim), Connectivity Solutions (Dura-Line), and Fluor and Energy Materials (Koura). Its automotive-aftermarket relevance is Koura refrigerants and Alphagary and Vestolit polymer compounds.
Orbia Advance Corporation, S.A.B. de C.V. at a glance
Revenue
$7.6B
FY2025 · +2% YoY
Employees
~22,000
Company-published · 50+ countries
Founded
1953
As Cables Mexicanos · Orbia since 2019
Headquarters
Mexico City, Mexico
Also Boston · Amsterdam · Tel Aviv
Ownership
Listed
BMV: ORBIA · formerly Mexichem
Certifications
ISO 9001 · ISO 14001 · ISO 45001
Claimed · multi-site
Import activity
6,351
US import shipments on record
Known customers
Automotive aftermarket A/C channel
Koura refrigerant launches
Industries
Automotive
Construction
Industrial Equipment
Electronics
Sourcing and import activity
From US customs bill-of-lading records, January 2015 to September 2026
US sea imports
6,351
Top origins
Belgium · India · China · Colombia
Most recent shipment
Sep 15, 2026
Shared foreign counterparties do not establish that these companies buy from Orbia Advance Corporation, S.A.B. de C.V..
What this tells a buyer
The US import record sits under Orbia's legacy-named subsidiary Mexichem Specialty Resins in Avon Lake, Ohio, which also imports under about 30 names and 66 addresses: intra-group and third-party materials flows, not finished-goods importing.
The largest supplier is Vestolit, shipping polyvinyl chloride paste resin from Belgium into the Ohio specialty-resins plant, the input side of Orbia's own PVC and compounds business.
Tetrafluoroethane and fluorochemical feedstock from Indian and Chinese suppliers feed the Klea refrigerant line, corroborating Koura's automotive-aftermarket air-conditioning business.
Source: US customs bill-of-lading records and public filings · Last verified Sep 28, 2026
STABILITY SIGNALS
Established & active
$7.6B revenue (FY2025), up 2 percent year over year, with $1.02B EBITDA and a 13.4 percent margin.
Publicly listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange since the 1970s; global team of over 22,000 across more than 50 countries.
Its Koura business supplies lower-GWP automotive-aftermarket refrigerants, and its US specialty-resins arm was importing as of September 2026.
What Orbia makes
Orbia Advance Corporation is a Mexico City based materials and specialty chemicals group, listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange under the ticker ORBIA and known as Mexichem until 2019. It runs five business groups: Polymer Solutions (the Vestolit and Alphagary brands), Building and Infrastructure (Wavin), Precision Agriculture (Netafim), Connectivity Solutions (Dura-Line), and Fluor and Energy Materials (Koura). The company reports operations in more than 50 countries and commercial activity in over 100, with world headquarters in Mexico City, Boston, Amsterdam, and Tel Aviv.
For the automotive aftermarket, the relevant businesses are Koura and Polymer Solutions. Koura, backed by more than 35 years in fluorine chemistry, produces refrigerants used in vehicle air-conditioning service, including Koura R-444A, positioned as a lower-cost, lower global-warming-potential replacement for R-1234yf, and Klea 456A, a lower-GWP direct replacement for R-134a suited to the aftermarket service channel. Alphagary and Vestolit supply specialty polyvinyl chloride and thermoplastic compounds, additives, plasticizers, and low-smoke halogen-free materials used across wire and cable, appliance, building, and automotive applications. Orbia is a materials supplier to the aftermarket rather than a maker of finished OEM or replacement parts.
Financial performance
Orbia reported full-year 2025 net revenues of $7,619 million, up 2 percent from 2024, and reported EBITDA of $1,020 million, down 7 percent, for an EBITDA margin of 13.4 percent. Adjusted EBITDA was $1,110 million. The 2025 result followed a weaker 2024, when revenues of $7,506 million fell about 9 percent year over year amid soft demand across the company's markets. Growth in 2025 came from every segment except Polymer Solutions, where PVC and compounds pricing stayed under pressure. Operating cash flow rose 24 percent to $645 million, a conversion rate of 63 percent. Net debt stood at $3,779 million at year-end 2025, a net-debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 3.70 times (3.40 times on an adjusted basis), with $1,040 million in cash. These figures come from the company's own quarterly and annual earnings releases.
Ownership and history
The company traces to 1953, when it was founded in Mexico as Cables Mexicanos S.A. It became a publicly held company on the Mexican Stock Exchange through Grupo Industrial Camesa in 1978, grew by acquisition into the chemicals and plastics group Mexichem, and rebranded as Orbia in August 2019. The name pairs the Latin root for sphere with Bia, a figure from Greek mythology. Chief Executive Officer Sameer S. Bharadwaj was appointed in 2021; he joined Orbia in 2016 to lead its compounds business and previously held executive roles at Cabot Corporation, with earlier stints at The Boston Consulting Group and Dow. Cristian Capellino serves as Chief Financial Officer, Gregg Smith as President of Orbia Fluor and Energy Materials (Koura), and Nicholas P. Ballas as President of Orbia Polymer Solutions.
Certifications and quality
Orbia's businesses report standard industrial management-system certifications rather than a single group-wide badge. Alphagary states that it maintains ISO 9001 quality, ISO 14001 environmental, and ISO 45001 occupational health and safety certifications. Orbia publishes site-level ISO 14001 certificates for several Vestolit and Alphagary plants, including facilities in Colombia and Mexico, on its own sustainability certifications page. These are the certifications the company itself claims; no IATF 16949 automotive-specific certification was found for the Koura, Vestolit, or Alphagary businesses, which is consistent with a materials supplier serving the aftermarket service channel rather than direct tier-one production programs.
Known customers
Orbia sells basic and specialty materials into broad end markets rather than named vehicle programs, so its automotive customer relationships are largely undisclosed. No individual OEM or Tier 1 program passed the documented-evidence bar for this profile. The most concrete automotive-facing evidence is product-level: Koura's published launches of aftermarket refrigerants aimed at the vehicle air-conditioning service market, and Alphagary's stated automotive compound applications.
Customer | Evidence | Confidence | As of |
|---|---|---|---|
Automotive aftermarket A/C service channel | Koura R-444A and Klea 456A refrigerants marketed as R-1234yf and R-134a replacements, per company and Koura announcements | Reported | 2023-2024 |
Sourcing evidence
Orbia's US import footprint appears in customs bill-of-lading records under its legacy-named subsidiary Mexichem Specialty Resins, based in Avon Lake, Ohio, which the records list as also importing under about 30 names and 66 addresses. That entity shows 6,351 sea shipments from January 2015 through September 2026, averaging 5.93 TEU per shipment, with the most recent shipment recorded September 15, 2026. Customs-derived shipping spend is an order-of-magnitude estimate of roughly $5 million on 14 percent cost-data coverage, not an audited figure.
Supplier | Country | Shipments | Typical goods |
|---|---|---|---|
Vestolit | Belgium | 552 | Polyvinyl chloride paste resin |
Mihama India | India | 37 | Tetrafluoroethane (Klea refrigerant) |
Shandong Befar Group Dongrui Chemical | China | 29 | Trichloroethylene feedstock |
Navin Fluorine Advanced Sciences | India | 22 | Tetrafluoroethane (Klea refrigerant) |
Four shown of the recorded supplier set.
The mix reads as Orbia's own materials supply chain rather than finished-goods importing: PVC and vinyl resin from the Vestolit network into the Ohio specialty-resins plant, plus tetrafluoroethane and fluorochemical feedstock from Indian and Chinese suppliers that feed the Klea refrigerant line. The refrigerant flows corroborate the Koura automotive-aftermarket air-conditioning business. Buyers weighing nearshoring and tariff exposure should note the transatlantic and Asian dependencies in this feedstock chain.
Coverage caveats: these are US ocean-freight records only. Air, truck, and rail movements do not appear; the importing entity is recorded under its legacy Mexichem name; and product categories come from declared manifest codes, which are noisy. Absence of a record is not evidence of absence.
Frequently asked questions
What does Orbia Advance Corporation make?
Orbia is a Mexico-based materials and specialty chemicals group with five business groups: Polymer Solutions (Vestolit and Alphagary compounds and PVC), Building and Infrastructure (Wavin pipes), Precision Agriculture (Netafim irrigation), Connectivity Solutions (Dura-Line conduit), and Fluor and Energy Materials (Koura fluorochemicals and refrigerants). Its automotive aftermarket relevance comes from Koura refrigerants and Alphagary and Vestolit polymer compounds.
Who owns Orbia Advance Corporation?
Orbia is a publicly listed company traded on the Mexican Stock Exchange (Bolsa Mexicana de Valores) under the ticker ORBIA. It was known as Mexichem, S.A.B. de C.V. until it rebranded as Orbia in August 2019, and it traces its origins to 1953.
What is Orbia's revenue?
Orbia reported full-year 2025 net revenues of $7,619 million, up 2 percent from 2024, with reported EBITDA of $1,020 million and an EBITDA margin of 13.4 percent. Full-year 2024 revenues were $7,506 million. The figures are from the company's own earnings releases.
Where is Orbia headquartered?
Orbia's corporate headquarters is in Mexico City, on Avenida Paseo de la Reforma. The company also cites world headquarters in Boston, Amsterdam, and Tel Aviv, and reports operations in more than 50 countries.
How is Orbia connected to the automotive aftermarket?
Through its Koura business, Orbia supplies refrigerants for vehicle air-conditioning service, including Koura R-444A and Klea 456A, marketed as lower global-warming-potential replacements for R-1234yf and R-134a. Its Alphagary and Vestolit businesses also supply specialty polymer compounds used in automotive applications, making Orbia a materials supplier to the aftermarket rather than a finished-parts manufacturer.
Last verified September 28, 2026. Is this your company? Request a correction.
Latest news
Oct 2025
Moody's downgraded Orbia's senior unsecured rating from Baa3 to Ba1 with a negative outlook; Fitch modified its rating from BBB to BBB-, stable, keeping Orbia at the lowest investment-grade rung (rating-agency updates, October 2025).
Feb 2026
Orbia reported full-year 2025 net revenues of $7,619 million, up 2 percent, with reported EBITDA of $1,020 million and a 13.4 percent margin (company earnings release).
Sep 2024
Koura, Orbia's Fluor and Energy Materials business, launched a lower-GWP alternative to R-1234yf for the EU and UK automotive aftermarket (company announcement).
Refreshed weekly · updated Sep 28, 2026
Leadership

Sameer S. Bharadwaj
Chief Executive Officer

Cristian Capellino
Chief Financial Officer

Gregg Smith
EVP & President, Orbia Fluor & Energy Materials (Koura)

Nicholas P. Ballas
EVP & President, Orbia Polymer Solutions
Location & contact
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