Irving, Texas-based Celanese Corp. has agreed to buy leading Indian engineering thermoplastics compounder Next Polymers Ltd, in a bid to expand its footprint in India.
No financial details of the deal have been released. Celanese expects to complete the transaction early in the first quarter of 2019, pending customary closing conditions.
Based in Mumbai, Next Polymers specializes in custom compounding of engineered thermoplastic materials and has a 20 kilotonne per year compounding production facility in Silvassa, India.
The company is part of JP Polymers Pvt., a large distributor of engineering and specialty polymers in India, which is already marketing Celanese products in the country.
Next Polymers specializes in compounding polymers with post-industrial content, a capability that Celanese says is becoming increasingly important as it aims to minimize waste and improve sustainability.
“Next Polymers complements our rapidly growing India business to further establish Celanese as a leader in the Indian ETP market by broadening our ability to serve nylon and other engineered materials customers in a high-growth region,” said Scott Sutton, chief operating officer, in an Oct. 11 news release.
The business has a “world-class” domestic compounding facility with 10 production lines, which will improve Celanese's ETP capabilities in a market that is growing at a 15 percent annual growth rate, Sutton added.
“I believe it's an excellent move by Celanese … considering the rapidly growing engineering thermoplastics market demand in India,” said Ved Prakash Shukla, CEO of JP Polymers.
Post-acquisition, Celanese and JP Polymers will continue their distribution cooperation.
Celanese expects to operate Next Polymer's thermoplastic compounding product portfolio and production capabilities within the its engineered materials business.
The company will offer Next Polymers-branded materials including nylon 6 and nylon 6/6, polypropylene, ABS, polycarbonate and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA).
Target industries include mainly automotive, electrical and electronics and industrial applications.