Thai chemicals company Indorama Ventures Public Co Ltd (IVL) has continued its shopping spree in recent months with the acquisition of Sines, Portugal-based manufacturer of purified terephthalic acid, Artlant PTA SA.
The purchase includes all Artlant equipment, surface rights and employment contracts, as well as its PTA production plant in the Sines Industrial Complex., IVL announced Nov. 9.
The facility has a production capacity of 700,000 metric tons per year, which IVL said would add "substantially" to its PTA activities in Europe.
IVL also is acquiring the assets of an adjacent utilities provider, Artelia Ambiente SA, which has a capacity of 40.390 megawatts of electricity, steam, demineralized water, wastewater treatment and hydrogen.
The acquisition will secure energy supply to Artlant and excess power will be sold to the grid.
PTA is used as raw material for PET production.
“Artlant fortifies our core PTA business and is a part of our successful vertical integration strategy,” said Aloke Lohia, group CEO of Indorama Ventures.
Artlant, he said, will drive the growth of the polyester business both in Portugal and the rest of Europe.
The deal is expected to close in the final quarter of 2017.
The move follows another major acquisition by IVL in October, which saw the company buying the film business joint ventures DuPont Teijin Films, with production plants in the U.S., Europe and China.
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.