An international financial firm has invested almost $70 million with Solvay Group to fund a major PVC plant in Russia.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development approved the investment July 21, along with an 11-year loan of 150 million euros (US$195 million) to RusVinyl LLC, a Solvay joint venture that's building the plant in Kstovo. Solvay's SolVin Holding Nederland unit owns a 50 percent stake in RusVinyl.
When completed, the plant will have annual capacity of more than 700 million pounds of PVC and almost 500 million pounds of caustic soda. The plant is expected to create almost 700 jobs.
The EBRD, based in London, is jointly owned by the governments of 61 countries, along with the European Union and the European Investment Bank. Since its founding in 1991, the EBRD has invested almost 48 billion euros (US$62.4 billion) in projects throughout Europe and Asia.
Plastics and chemicals maker Solvay of Brussels had 2009 sales of 8.5 billion euros (US$11.1 billion) and employs more than 19,000 worldwide.