BANGKOK, Thailand, ROTTERDAM, The Netherlands and WORKINGTON, England, December 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Indorama Holdings, Thailand (IRH) announced today that, pending the signing of an agreement, its Board of Directors and the Board of Directors of Indorama Polymers, Thailand (IRP) have approved the acquisition of Eastman Chemical Company's European PTA and PET Resin assets. Eastman is a leading PET producer in Europe with an integrated (PTA and PET resin) manufacturing capacity in Rotterdam, Holland and a PET Resin manufacturing capacity in Workington, UK. The combined capacity of the two locations is about 340,000 tpa of PTA and 350,000 tpa of PET resin. IRH and IRP approved the acquisition for the PTA and the PET assets respectively as this activity is considered strategic and are complementary to their business.
This exclusivity is an important step towards the acquisition of the European assets of Eastman. This acquisition, when consummated, would be the third international acquisition in the polyester sector by Indorama after the successful takeover of Siam Polyester, Thailand in 1998 and StarPet Inc., USA in 2003. Post this acquisition, the Indorama Group would consolidate its position further amongst the World's largest polyester manufacturers with 2.0 million tons capacity, a 20% increase from its the current capacity and enhancement in revenue by around USD One Billion.
Commenting on this development Aloke Lohia, Chairman, Indorama Holdings, Thailand said,"Indorama, is confident that this phase of consolidation in the European PET industry is the way to bring back returns in this otherwise lackluster market. This action reiterates our strong commitment to the growth of PET and our confidence in the European business model that started last year with the startup of our Greenfield investment in Europe's largest PET plant in Lithuania. Eastman's plants would add more flexibility and reliability to Indorama and would help us better serve customers across Europe."
The PET Resin assets from this acquisition would form a part of SET listed Indorama Polymers, Thailand (IRP) and help to achieve their global vision of being amongst the top 3 PET Resin manufacturers. AlphaPet Inc, USA a subsidiary of IRP is currently building USA's state of art PET Resin project co-located to BP's PTA assets in Decatur, Alabama. The virtually integrated facility at Decatur, Alabama and the Integrated facilities in Europe will help IRP to participate in the value chain and strengthen its competitiveness. Indorama Group's PTA plant in Thailand already meets IRP needs within the country. IRP group will reach achieve a worldwide capacity of 1.4 million tpa of PET resin upon commissioning of AlphaPet Inc. and the completion of this acquisition.
Indorama Group is the given name to the unconsolidated business of the Lohia family. These businesses are owned and managed independently. Indorama Group has diverse business interests in PTA, Wool, Cement and Petrochemicals in addition to PET.
Press Contacts: Mr. Anil Lohia, Mr. Pramod Dubey, Tel: +66-2-661-6661
