Indorama Ventures Public Co. Ltd. has a deal to buy DuPont Teijin Films, a major global supplier of polyester films.
DTF is a joint venture between DowDuPont Co. and Teijin Ltd. The deal includes businesses in United States, Europe and China.
In addition to manufacturing and R&D, the deal includes the Mylar and Melinex brand names. Bangkok, Thailand-based Indorama is publicly traded and is already a major supplier of PET resin.
“This acquisition marks a new chapter for IVL. It is the next step in creating a leading position for customer solutions in films,” said Aloke Lohia, group CEO of Indorama Ventures, in an Oct. 10 news release.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. It is expected to complete by late 2017 or early 2018, upon obtaining appropriate regulatory approvals in each country, the companies said in separate news releases.
With a total film/polymer capacity of 277,000 metric tons per year, DTF is one of the world's largest producers of biaxially oriented PET and polyethylene naphthalate films.
In separate statements, the companies confirmed the sale of four businesses – DuPont Teijin Films U.S. Ltd. Partnership, DuPont Teijin Films Luxemburg SA, DuPont Teijin Films U.K. Ltd., DuPont Teijin Films China Ltd. - to Indorama Netherlands BV.
The move is part of Teijin's restructuring of its polyester film business, and marks a major change in the global market for BOPET films. Teijin said the four joint ventures had become “less important as resources allocation targets.”
DTF specializes in film for specialty, industrial, packaging, automotive, advanced magnetic media, photo systems, electrical and electronics applications.
According to IVL, the global consumption of BOPET is expected to increase at an average rate of about 7 percent annually. IVL expects to further PET integration and value-enhancement through captive naphthalene dicarboxylate, a specialty chemical used in high-performance polymers and films.
The Thai company claims to be the world's only commercial manufacturer of NDC.
In North America, the DuPont Teijin film operations are part of a business that ranked No. 6 in the most recent Plastics News survey of North American film and sheet manufacturers. The regional films business is based in Hopewell, Va.
Indorama has been aggressively acquiring polyester-related assets in recent years, picking up operations in Europe, India and the United States. In 2016, it bought British Petroleum plc's massive petrochemical complex in Decatur, Ala.
The deal apparently means that an acquisition rumored to be in discussion between two competing BOPET film producers will not take place. Earlier this year, a published report in India said that New Delhi-based Jindal Poly Films Ltd. was in advanced stages of discussions to buy the European operations of DuPont Teijin Films for $300 million.
Indorama makes polyester resin, filament yarns, fabric and fibers, but does not extrude film.
Plastics News Editor Don Loepp contributed to this report.